Following a string of high-profile animal abuse cases this year, state legislators in New York are looking to clamp down on abusers by raising penalties and establishing a state-wide registry.
It was a quiet morning in the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society’s shelter in Menands.
Well, relatively quiet.
On the second floor of the building, away from the louder kennels, veterinary surgery rooms, and donation drop off spaces a reunion was underway.
A white and black dog, no more than 12 pounds, was sniffing shelter staff she hadn’t seen since being adopted in September.
“Rosie here came from a situation in which there were crates stacked up, or dogs running around anywhere and everywhere. So, there are about 22 predominantly small dogs that were on the property. Like I said, they were either in crates or they were just running loose. There were also 15 horses running around and one blind cow. In addition to that, there were pigeons and other birds that were in deplorable situations as well,” said Ashley Buock.
Ashley Buock has been the president of the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society for the past five years. Rosie came to the shelter in June and became a favorite among shelter staff.
Brian and Marsha Hart had always owned black labs but, like everyone at the shelter, they quickly fell in love with Rosie.
“And, she said, ‘well we’ve got this one dog here,’ and I said, ‘well how’s the health?’ ‘Oh, the health is great and she’s going through the whole thing’ and then all of a sudden we got to the end and she goes, ‘well there’s one thing missing. It’s a leg,” said Hart.
After three months, a full round of vaccinations, and surgery to remove her back right leg, Rosie went home with the Harts.
Linda Hart says the decision to go home with Rosie wasn’t all that hard to make.
“What caught me to her, because Brian was down here all the time looking at dogs, and as soon as I met her, she, like she came over and was so happy and so calm and I didn't even realize she was missing a leg. So, it was just, it was love at first sight,” said Hart.
This summer saw a handful of abuse cases that saw a dozen or more animals held in deplorable conditions.
Andrew Fiumano is the director of Humane Law Enforcement for the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society. Fiumano says it would be easy to just say abuse is on the rise, but:
“As there’s more media attention, as we’ve got these great partnerships with the Sheriff’s department in Albany County, the DA’s office. We work very well with the Schenectady County DA’s office, Rensselaer County DA’s office has also been a fantastic partner. They’re all really onboard with prosecuting these cases and addressing these issues as they occur which keeps these cases in the news and then people see it and they see that it’s being taken seriously. So, they’re more confident to make a phone call or fill out a cruelty report. It’s like the bumper stickers on the back of state police cars, ‘if you see something, say something,” said Fiumano.
There’s a renewed effort at the state-level to address animal abuse.
Currently, around half of New York’s 62 counties have animal abuser registries. There is no state-wide, comprehensive registry. That means someone on a registry in one county could hop the line to adopt more animals into abusive conditions.
State Senator Jim Tedisco was behind the state’s flagship animal abuse legislation, Buster’s Law. He’s looking to expand the penalties for abusers, doubling the fine to $10,000 and increase potential jail time to four years. His proposed changes would also prevent abusers from ever owning companion animals again.
Buock said that kind of restriction could have prevented the situation Rosie was rescued from.
“And the person who the who owned the animals, was a known quantity. She had been brought up on charges in 2017 she had worked with us to surrender over a bunch of small dogs back in 2022 so it was really the fact that law enforcement knew this was another bad situation, and identifying, like I said, some of those factors that you know, animals should not be living in situations like this,” said Buock.
Tedisco is also looking to establish a statewide registry for animal abusers.
Fiumano said it’ll take a multifaceted approach to cut down on animal abuse.
“I think it’s going to be a combination of legislation and good, old-fashioned teamwork. Being able to bring in County mental health resources, adult and child protective, code enforcement, building inspectors, things like that. Everyone has their own niche and when we work together we can really effectively solve these hoarding situations,” said Fiumano.
Though as criminal penalties for abusers grow, Fiumano says it will also be important to develop non-criminal pathways to address abuse.
“You know, an order from a judge to remove animals from a situation and get that person, after the right due process, being able to get a no-animal order against that person without having to file criminal charges. One of the situations that we find ourselves in is with an elderly person who is hoarding and they refuse—they don’t want help, they don’t want to sign over the animals but it’s unsanitary. It’s unsafe for the person, it’s unsafe for the animals, and right now when we do encounter those situations it could result in us having to file a cruelty charge in a situation that could be handled in a non-criminal manner if the right legal mechanisms existed for us to do so,” said Fiumano.
