A police force for furry friends
Hours before a rare snowstorm hit this city, Sgt. Erik Smit got a call from dispatch: A Jack Russell was locked out on a third-story balcony.
Neighbours heard it barking and knew that the owner, who had left for work at 7:30 a.m., would not be back until the end of the day, when the terrace would be covered by several inches of snow.
Smit, a 39-year veteran of the national police force, rang a few doorbells and yelled some questions to curious but uninformed residents. He then radioed for a 22-ton fire truck with a crane and platform.
A half-hour later, at a taxpayer cost of roughly 500 euros ($780), the rescued dog was warming up in an animal ambulance. Smit got back into his squad car and continued his day.
“He’ll have to call me and explain the situation,” he said of the dog’s owner, who would eventually be fined 150 euros for animal neglect.
Smit is one of roughly 250 full-time members of the animal police force in the Netherlands (many more are trained but do not carry out the function exclusively). Of the approximately 3 million calls made to The Hague area police each year, roughly 3,000 involve animals.
Like a Humane Society with guns, handcuffs and badges, members of the animal police force are regular officers with extra training and special equipment.
“Obviously, the first thing I do is to look after the animals, but often when you look further, you see the things aren’t going so well for the owner of the animals,” said Smit, who estimates he sees malicious intent in only about 20 per cent of cases.
Well-known in the Netherlands, the animal police force was created when the far-right Party for Freedom briefly supported the mainstream Liberals that led a minority government in 2010. For their support on key votes, the Party for Freedom demanded formation of an 800-person animal police force. When the party’s support weakened in 2012, some wanted to abandon the idea, but the national police argued for keeping at least a smaller version of it.
Legislation known as the Animals Act became law in 2013, guaranteeing animals freedom from thirst, hunger, physical and emotional discomfort and chronic stress.
“Animals — and our entire society — need the animal police. There is a direct link between violence against animals and violence against humans,” said Marianne Thieme, head of the progressive Party for the Animals, which holds five of Parliament’s 150 seats.
Last week in Hague district court, for example, a man was convicted of having beaten and kicked his dog, after a 40-minute trial with testimony from neighbours, a court-appointed veterinarian and the defendant. He was sentenced to 56 hours of community service and prohibited from acquiring pets for a year.
“People learn more from community service than a fine,” said Tamara Verdoorn, the prosecutor in charge of animal cases in The Hague district court.