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Article Archive > Animal abuse on rise; more youths involved Animal abuse on rise; more youths involved More animal abuse is happening across New Jersey, more cases involve youths, and studies clearly link animal abuse to violence against people, say cruelty investigators and animal control officers. Despite this, the enforcement of laws prohibiting animal cruelty is piecemeal because of deficiencies in state laws. Thomas Yanisko regularly sees sights that haunt him. "Dogs that look like walking skeletons. Houses where there are 30 to 40 cats . . . where there's so much feces on the floor you can't even walk. "Dogs tied up in the back yard for so long the collars are embedded in their necks, and their ears are chewed off by flies," says Yanisko, a state-certified animal cruelty investigator who works part time for the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. As the agency's supervisory officer for Ocean and Burlington counties, Yanisko spends almost as many hours weekly investigating animal cruelty as he does at his full-time job. He's not alone. More animal abuse is happening across New Jersey, more cases involve youths, and studies clearly link animal abuse to violence against people, say cruelty investigators and animal control officers. Despite this, the enforcement of laws prohibiting animal cruelty is piecemeal because of deficiencies in state laws. Officers and investigators say more must be done. Almost daily, they see what the public doesn't: Cats gutted while alive. Dogs beaten until their skulls crack or shot to death. Pets who die slowly after being abandoned for weeks inside vacant houses. Beheaded birds. Puppies thrown into creeks to drown. They see, too, hoarders -- well-intentioned people who rescue animals that breed and breed until 50, 60, 80 animals, many sick, fill homes with the stench of urine and layers of feces. Such cruelty manifests itself in the human community, too. Numerous studies show that people who hurt animals hurt people, says Mary Lou Randour, a psychologist and professional outreach coordinator with the Humane Society of the United States. This can take the form of domestic abuse, child abuse, assaults on strangers and other violent crimes. Stronger laws in works The stumbling blocks stalling the fight against animal abuse in New Jersey are many. "The state needs to do a lot more," says animal lover and advocate Marie A. Sylvester, 45, of Interlaken. "The government doesn't take animal abuse and cruelty seriously enough. They fail to see the correlation between animal abuse and the general character of a person." Many lawmakers agree. Existing state laws -- Title 4 under the Department of Health and Senior Services -- are "antiquated," says Sen. Andrew R. Ciesla, R-Ocean, a longtime sponsor of animal-welfare laws. Title 4 is a maze of various laws passed over the years, he said. Civil and criminal charges can be filed, but penalties -- fines, community service, prison time -- vary by case and judge. Ciesla and Sen. Leonard T. Connors Jr., R-Ocean, have sponsored a bill that recodifies the law under Title 2C, the state criminal code, and strengthens penalties. James W. Holzapfel and David W. Wolfe, both R-Ocean, are Assembly sponsors. Another bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May, and a long list of other lawmakers, also does this. Van Drew's bill also defines hoarding and mandates reporting of abuse by anyone involved in animal care. Legislative action and stronger penalties are a necessity, says Carole Balmer of Holmdel, an animal and environmental activist: "It's so simple. If penalties are strong, people will be reluctant to commit this." But tracking abusers, another way to prevent abuse against pets or people, is difficult. Interagency reporting -- among social service agencies, schools, police and animal welfare workers -- is not mandated. This is needed because animal abuse can indicate domestic violence or vice versa, says Michael Melchionne, chief animal cruelty investigator in Stafford and a certified animal control officer. Another impediment is the lack of a data-collection system. "There's no mechanism (by the state or nationally) to have reliable statistics on how often it occurs, whether it's on the increase, who's participating in it," Randour says. "This knowledge is basic to understanding the problem and how to reduce it, how to save lives." More cases, new trends While solutions are sought, caseloads and a new database show an increase in abuse in New Jersey. The NJSPCA has been handling about 2,500 cases a year for the past few years, a number that is increasing, says agency superintendent Frank Rizzo. This doesn't include cases directly handled by the eight county SPCAs, located in Atlantic, Bergen, Cumberland, Hunterdon, Monmouth, Morris, Passaic and Warren. County SPCAs are independent affiliates of the NJSPCA -- a nonprofit, private agency the state has designated as New Jersey's lead animal cruelty investigator. An NJSPCA database started last September shows that from Sept. 1, 2006, to Jan. 2, there were 1,185 investigations statewide, with 200 more forwarded to county SPCAs, Rizzo says. The Monmouth County SPCA in Eatontown handles about 1,200 cruelty cases annually, says Victor "Buddy" Amato, chief law enforcement officer for the Monmouth County SPCA. Ocean County was averaging about 200 cases annually for the last few years, NJSPCA's Yanisko says. But just in the last quarter of 2006, 88 cases occurred in the county. "That puts Ocean County on a pace to eclipse over 300 cases in 2007," he says. Along with more cases, certain trends are evident, the most glaring being the growing number of youths abusing animals. Stafford's Melchionne says all of his cases in the last few years involved people younger than 25. Animal control officers -- whose initial work involves quality-of-life issues such as loose or injured animals -- often are the first to uncover neglect or abuse. "I've definitely seen a rise in youthful offenders in the last five years," says Carl Galioto, chief law enforcement officer at the New Brunswick-based NJSPCA. "It's kids torturing or beheading animals. It scares me to think the next generation may be worse than this generation. It really does." Socioeconomic factors are changing, too. "We're seeing animal abuse coming from new areas -- middle class, upper class," says Bruce Sanchez, general manager of the Associated Humane Societies' Tinton Falls shelter and, through the shelter, chief animal control officer for 30 Monmouth County municipalities. "It's no longer centered in impoverished areas." Hoarding is more common. In November, 130 cats were taken from a Manchester home; most were sick and had to be euthanized, Yanisko says. There were 120 cats in one of the six hoarding cases in the Burlington-Gloucester area in mid-2006, says Matthew J. Stanton of Trenton-based MBI-GluckShaw, a lobbying firm under contract to serve as spokesman for the NJSPCA. More wildlife is being hurt. "We've seen wildlife hit with paint balls, Canada geese beaten," says Heather Cammisa, a board member at Jersey Shore Animal Center, Brick, and until December, executive director. Failure to provide medical treatment for animals is also more common, says Cammisa, who now works for the Humane Society of the United States. Dog fighting is more frequent. "The macho thing now is to have a designer, killer animal," NJSPCA's Galioto says. One point, though, isn't clear to those who investigate animal cruelty: why it's done. "There isn't a simple answer," says social worker Laura Totten. Totten and psychologist Lisa DeBilio run the Highland Park-based Center for Animals and People Together Successfully, counseling youths who have hurt animals. "What we've been seeing and what research is showing is this is a symptom of something larger," Totten says, citing child abuse, family violence, mental illness or drug abuse. Meanwhile, someone must protect animals, Yanisko says. "I think it's worth it when you represent an animal that had no chance of anyone defending it in life," he says of his job.
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