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Article Archive > Monmouth SPCA defends its stance on enforcement Monmouth SPCA defends its stance on enforcement On a sunny and hot July day, a dog is left in a backyard for at least 20 minutes. He has water and a tree for shade. Has the law been violated? When an animal cruelty investigator testified that he issued a summons to a dog owner for failing to provide proper shelter - under just those circumstances - it sparked some legal fireworks as a defense attorney said almost any dog owner could be cited for such a violation. It also raised the question of when animal cruelty should be charged. The legal debate centered around Petey, a mixed breed dog that Sgt. Matthew Giuliano of the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said he observed in a backyard on Dutch Lane Road in Marlboro without shelter for at least 20 minutes on a day where the temperature hit more than 90 degrees. Giuliano testified that the dog's owners were not home at the time, adding to his belief that the dog had been in the yard longer than the reported 20 minutes. But he could only prove the dog was there for the 20 to 30 minutes that he observed it, he conceded. The issue arose on Sept. 10 during the second nonconsecutive day of the animal cruelty trial of Steven I. Moser and Rhonda Uretzky, a Marlboro couple accused of animal cruelty in the death of another dog, Harry. Defense counsel Charles Uliano argued that based on Giuliano's testimony, anyone who leaves a dog in the yard for half an hour could be charged with cruelty. Petey's plight was little more than a side issue in the larger case about Harry, another dog. But Uliano said it raised questions of what constitutes animal cruelty and how much enforcement is too much. Marlboro Municipal Court Judge Richard A. Ganter is expected to address those issues when he renders a verdict at the conclusion of the case before him. Lesia Cicci, a Red Bank Animal Hospital veterinarian who is not involved in the court case, said a dog would start to develop signs of hyperthermia within 30 minutes, if left outside on a sunny, hot and humid day. "Dogs don't have sweat glands," she said. "They have to pant. They can only pant so much. If it's sunny, hot and humid, like in the 90s, you can have multi-organ failure very quickly." Few would disagree that the Monmouth County SPCA has one of the most aggressive programs for attacking animal abuse, said Victor "Buddy" Amato, chief humane enforcement officer for the society. The Monmouth County SPCA's law enforcement activity report for September showed that 100 investigations resulted in 20 citations being issued as of Friday. On average, Amato said he and his volunteer staff of 10 will hand out about 240 summonses a year. By contrast, Ocean County hands out about 75 a year, according to the New Jersey SPCA, which handles that county's animal abuse cases. Those investigations fall to Sgt. Tom Yanisko from the state SPCA, who also covers Burlington County. "We're aggressive because that's what we need to be," Amato said. "We speak for creatures who cannot speak for themselves." Monmouth County is nationally recognized for its enforcement efforts, said Martin Mersereau, the director of the cruelty casework division for the Norfolk, Va., based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. He brushed aside criticism like Uliano's. "When people criticize the enforcement of animal cruelty laws, they forget that these are laws to be enforced the same as any other state laws, the same as burglary or robbery," he said. "The law is the law." Some cases are clear-cut criminal matters, officials said. There's Anthony Appolonia, who has been in the Monmouth County Jail for almost a year since being charged with 19 counts of animal cruelty in the torture deaths of cats and kittens last November. "No one disputes that torturing animals to death is a crime," Amato said. But how about the Roxbury teen who slammed a sea gull with a whiffle ball bat? Cory Kendelski, 18, originally said the bird had been trying to swoop down and steal his lunch, but Amato said he found a witness who said Kendelski and his friends had been baiting the bird by laying potato chips on a blanket. The case ended when Kendelski pleaded guilty in Manasquan Municipal Court to a civil law violation for causing the bird's death. He was fined $1,000 and the $55 cost of euthanizing the gull. The plea to a civil violation also ensured he would not have a criminal record, something Amato told the court he agreed was appropriate. The case sparked some intense give and take on the news story's comment site on the Asbury Park Press Web site, with many writers accusing the SPCA of over-enforcement. "People sometimes disagree with our decisions," Amato said. "But I stand by them." Giuliano acted properly when he issued the summons to Petey's owners, Amato added. "I'm not going to talk about that case specifically because it's still being heard in court," he said. "But if an agent finds a dog left in a yard without shelter, he is within his rights to bring charges." Amato said agents look at cases in their totality. Issues such as temperature, the availability of water and the animal's overall condition are all factors he takes into account before issuing summonses. "I don't just write these things on a whim," he said of the summonses. "Charges are a last resort in most cases. If a warning will do to correct the situation, I give a warning." He estimated that 80 to 90 percent of investigations result in either a warning being issued or an animal's owner being educated in how to properly care for the pet. The SPCA operates as a quasi-governmental agency, Amato said. He is a certified law enforcement officer with full arrest powers, and Giuliano has applied for his certification from the state. They operate in a capacity similar to railroad police, who also enforce laws for nongovernmental entities, Amato said. The laws the SPCA police enforce are mostly under Title 4 of state statutes, dealing with "Agriculture and Domestic Animals." The most common charges filed are disorderly persons offenses for what the statute describes as actions which: "Inflict unnecessary cruelty upon a living animal or creature, or unnecessarily fail to provide a living animal or creature of which the person has charge either as an owner or otherwise with proper food, drink, shelter or protection from the weather, or leave it unattended in a vehicle under inhumane conditions adverse to the health or welfare of the living animal or creature." Depending on the seriousness of the harm, cruelty cases can rise to the level of a third-degree crime, which is an indictable offense, according to the statutes. Disorderly persons offenses, which are heard in Municipal Court, carry maximum penalties of $1,000 fines and six months in jail. Those fines are important to SPCA investigators because they help to fund their police activities, Yanisko said. Ideally, the SPCA involved in bringing the charges receives the fine money through the courts where the fines were assessed, Yanisko said. In animal abuse cases, judges also have the option of ordering those they convict to 30 days community service providing assistance to the state or local SPCA or humane society, according to Title 4's sentencing provisions. PETA's Mersereau challenged those who minimize the importance of animal cruelty cases. The links between animal cruelty and crimes against people are no longer disputed, he said. "Every serial killer began abusing animals," he said. "Animal abuse is also very common in homes where a spouse or a child is abused. Quite frankly, your son or daughter's welfare might well be at stake when an animal abuser is wandering around." Most animal abuse cases end with guilty pleas and fines in Municipal Court, Amato said. Among the cases that are pending court action are an Ocean Grove man accused of laying out rat poison to keep squirrels off his property and a Tinton Falls woman charged with choking a puppy until it lost consciousness, records show. This week, Wendy Fiolek of Middletown was charged with abandoning three gerbils and a hamster. The story stirred controversy, with more than 100 comments being posted on the Press Web site. Her husband, Ted Fiolek, did not want to discuss the specifics of the case, but said the charges have "created a tremendous amount of stress in my family. I'll leave it at that." "I admit it's a strange case," Amato said. "But those little animals were left in a box in the woods to die. A judge will decide, but as far as I'm concerned, that's cruelty."
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