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For local animal welfare workers, a dead pit bull found hanging from a stop sign in Dorchester County last month is the latest example of a chronic problem in South Carolina.
Organizations such as the Charleston Animal Society say lawmakers need to overhaul the state’s cruelty laws to combat abuse.
Animal welfare organizations in the Deep South have historically used the majority of their resources to keep pace with demand in the face of pet and other animal overpopulation, said Joe Elmore, CEO of the Animal Society. There were little resources left to work on reforming laws and other policymaking.
But conditions have improved now for the Animal Society, Elmore said.
“If you don’t have the infrastructure to enforce laws then it’s all for show,” he said. “Now we have this opportunity to get our heads above water. South Carolina needs an omnibus (cruelty) bill.”
Animal control officers, law enforcement personnel, prosecutors and judges should go through standardized animal cruelty training, Elmore said. This training is necessary because animal abuse cases rest heavily on the evidence that’s collected.
“Animals can’t talk,” he said. “You’re really relying on the forensics.”
Aldwin Roman, animal cruelty investigator with the Animal Society, said he’s finding a lack of consistent awareness among judges, prosecutors and law enforcement personnel about how to properly investigate these cases and how important it is to preserve evidence at the scene.
In the much publicized case of Caitlyn, thetape wrapped around her muzzle proved crucial in securing the conviction, he said. In the Aug. 28 case of the pit bull found hanging from a stop sign, a critical piece of evidence was allowed to slip away.
“My understanding is that the (body) was destroyed,” Roman said.
Any time an animal is found dead under suspicious circumstances authorities should conduct a necropsy in the same way an autopsy is done on victims of homicide, he said.
Under state regulations, torturing, tormenting, mutilating, killing or inflicting excessive or repeated unnecessary pain on an animal is a felony, with penalties of between 180 days and five years in prison, and a $5,000 fine.
The state also outlines some punishments for crimes, including ill-treatment or abandonment of animals. But the laws lack specific definitions for each type of abuse.
This ambiguity means cases can be unwieldy in court, said Kurt Taylor, a former prosecutor and Charleston County administrator who currently serves as the Animal Society’s director of government relations.
“You basically have to create what that means in front of a judge and then prove what you just created,” Taylor said.
The Humane Society of the United States ranked South Carolina 44th in the nation for 2015 in its annual survey of animal welfare policies across the nation.
South Carolina is one of a few states without felony penalties for cockfighting, the Humane Society said. The state also lacks required counseling for animal abusers, cross-reporting of animal cruelty and a statewide emergency plan that includes pets, among other policies.
Wayne Brennessel, executive director for the South Carolina chapter of the Humane Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said neglect cases are a significant problem throughout the state, and that investigations are rarely followed up on.
High-profile cases, such as Caitlyn’s, get a lot of attention, but other animals suffer without the same support, Brennessel said.
South Carolina has made some strides in recent years, including changes in 2014 that increased penalties and fines for animal abusers, and an 11-member Pet Care and Humane Treatment Study Committee that will hold its first meeting Thursday.
The committee was formed to study a broad swath of animal issues, including reviewing animal cruelty laws, to see whether enforcement and penalties are working. It will meet during the current legislative session and dissolve after compiling a report.
Rep. Stephen Moss, R-Blacksburg, sits on the 11-member committee. He’s optimistic and says officials will need to balance the interests of activists with pet owners and those who own working animals.
“Some conditions are horrible and we should be going after those people,” Moss said. “We walk that fine line.”
Dr. Patricia Hill, a Simpsonville veterinarian and legislative chair for the S.C. Association of Veterinarians, said better enforcement of the rules will help improve animal welfare.
Strong cases have gone to the magistrate court system with witnesses testifying about animal cruelty, photographs documenting the abuse and other evidence supporting the case, only to be thrown out because of particular magistrate’s view that “it was only a dog.”
“It’s not the laws per se right now; it’s the institutions,” Hill said. “These are complicated problems. You aren’t going to have a simple solution.”
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