Saratoga County has joined the growing ranks of municipalities in New York State to run an animal abuser registry. But advocates argue it’s just the beginning of needed reforms.
This month, a man pleaded guilty in Greenfield Town Court to cruelty to animals by failure to provide sustenance. He had been keeping five dogs and two cats in neglectful conditions. All were taken to the Saratoga County Animal Shelter for care, though one of the dogs was already dead at the time of surrender.
This week, that man, Richard Doyle, was the first person added to the new Saratoga County Animal Abuser Registry.
“We hope the registry acts as a deterrent to other people and we also hope that other concerned citizens are more likely to call it in because they know the Saratoga County Sheriff and the Saratoga County District Attorney are going to be taking it very, very seriously,” said Brett Eby.
That’s Saratoga County DA Brett Eby, who entered the role this year.
The Saratoga County Board of Supervisors voted in September to establish the registry following a slew of high-profile animal abuse cases in the region.
Eby adds the registry was a long time coming.
“Animal abuse is often a precursor to sexual and violent offences. So, now this person is on our radar and they’re registered in a similar fashion to how we’d have a sex offender registered. Now the general public will know and also, we’re going to make sure the registry is sent to rescues, pet adoption clinics,” said Eby.
The registry prevents individuals in the county convicted of animal abuse from owning any animals. It also prohibits them from purchasing or adopting new animals. Violators, including individuals who fail to register, can face a $1,000 penalty and up to a year in prison.
People added to the registry can remain on it for up to 15 years.
Veterinarian Joy Lucas has worked in Saratoga Springs for more than two decades and has testified as an expert witness in animal abuses cases.
“This will prevent people who are convicted of animal abuse from acquiring more animals and the way it does that is it mandates that any transfer of ownership via a pet store, a breeder, a shelter, a backyard breeder, it mandates that that individual check that animal abuse registry before they transfer ownership in any form or fashion and that is really the key,” said Lucas.
Despite the major step forward locally, less than half of New York’s 62 counties have abuse registries, and New York state has no comprehensive registry for animal abusers.
Republican State Sen. Jim Tedisco is working toward that. The 44th District senator has also proposed expanding existing punishments for abusing animals.
Lucas says the next step needs to be a statewide registry, but that’s going to take time.
“The verbiage has to be different because the animal’s ability to be housed, requirements, are completely different. So, you cannot hold a farmer with a cow to the same standards that you hold a chihuahua owner, you know what I mean? So, the laws have got to be very specific for very specific species,” said Lucas.
Saratoga County also recently launched an Animal Abuse Task Force. County Sheriff Jeff Brown, who also entered office at the beginning of the year, tells WAMC the goal with all of this is to help local animals.
“Yeah, I mean, the goal would be to have nobody added to the registry. Having no cases would be great. We do publicize these cases for a couple different reasons: to have people know that we are taking them seriously so if they have legitimate information to report that they know it’s going to be investigated and dealt with, and, two, to let any bad guys out there know that we are looking into them too,” said Brown.
Brown adds, however, that some neglectful hoarding situations can signal mental health struggles and that his office and county officials are equipped to help.
“One of the things we do is if we get a report and we start conducting an investigation we don’t always look to make an arrest. If we can work with the individual to either get the proper care or to rehome the animals we always do so,” said Brown.
