State: Abuse allegations less than neglect
Indiana board of animal health assists in Fair Oaks Farm investigation
Though the alleged abuse of calves and cows at Fair Oaks Farms generated national headlines and outrage, that kind of abuse is rare if it happens at all in this area, officials said.
“I can say that outright abuse cases are far, far less common than neglect,” Denise Derrer, public information director for the Indiana State Board of Animal Health, said in an email.
The board has been called in to assist in the investigation at Fair Oaks Farms, which came to light last month when Animal Recovery Mission, an animal advocacy group based in Miami Beach, Fla., released a series of videos taken by someone working undercover for ARM showing the abuse of calves and cows at the popular tourist attraction.
According to statistics for Lake County provided by Derrer, since 2016, the board has been called in for nine canine investigations; one camelid, which includes llamas and alpacas; two goat investigations; 23 horse investigations; three feline; one hog investigation; and two poultry investigation.
In Porter County, the board handled one poultry investigation in 2017 and one equine investigation so far this year.
Statewide, in 2018, Derrer said, the board spent 3,442 staff hours on animal welfare-related activities, including investigations, follow-ups, recording and reporting, working with law enforcement, testifying in court, and other related activities.
“Looking at it another way: Our agency spent — roughly — 10 man-hours per day, nearly every day, working on welfare cases,” she said in her email.
In all, 103 of the investigations involved horses; 91 involved companion animals, or pets; and 46 involved livestock.
District 1, which includes Lake, Porter, LaPorte, St. Joseph, Starke, Pulaski, Jasper and Newton counties, had the most cases of all the board’s districts, with 38.
The board, she said receives calls from animal control and local law enforcement, as well as the public. Cases involving cats and dogs are referred back to local officials, though the board will assist when needed. The exception, Derrer said, is for commercial dog breeding facilities, which the board has jurisdiction over.
“Findings can be all over the board. We may make a site visit and determine that everything is fine. Other times we do find issues that get resolved through follow-up visits,” she said, adding, “We do see a lot of issues that are underlying, especially for neglects, that are not necessarily intentional misconduct.”
An economic factor, particularly when it comes to the expense of caring for horses, may come into play, or a lack of knowledge of proper care by the owners, or mental health issues that may result in hoarding.
“Our primary interest is doing what’s best for the animals in a situation,” Derrer said. “If we can get an owner on the right track with better practices and information, then that is the best outcome for everyone involved.”
In Porter County, Toni Bianchi, director of the animal shelter there, said animal control officers investigated 128 cases of cruelty or neglect in 2018; in five of them, there were indicators for abuse, neglect or other criminal behavior.
So far this year, she said, officials have handled 93 investigations, yielding four cases where the findings merited going to court and/ or asking owners to surrender their animals. While the numbers aren’t exact, Bianchi said she expects more cases this year than last.
“We get calls pretty much every day that a dog doesn’t have water or something and nine times out of 10, they do have water or shelter,” she said. “If they’re meeting the minimum requirements, there’s not a lot we can do.”
The majority of calls are for domestic animals, though animal control does get some calls for livestock and horses. In the majority of those calls, the animals are OK but officials will make suggestions for improvement.
“If they could do better, we’re going to tell them what they could do better, and then we’re going to come out and check it,” she said.
Some cases come to a resolution and some don’t. In mid-April, the shelter took in a German shepherd e mp l oye e s dubbed Phoenix. The dog, found in Portage, had lost most of its hair and was severely underweight.
The people who fostered it, Bianchi said, have adopted the dog, adding it’s gained 20 pounds and 70% of its hair has grown back.
“We got one tip and it didn’t pan out. A lot of these neglect cases come in as strays and we can’t do anything about it,” she said.
In a case in late June, a man from DeMotte came to the shelter with a dog he said he found as a stray and tried to drop it off but the shelter will not accept strays from outside the county, Bianchi said.
Two days later, animal control officers picked up a stray after getting calls about a loose dog. Shelter employees recognized the dog as the same one the DeMotte man tried to drop off, and had the license plate number of that man’s car from when he visited the shelter, Bianchi said, adding he is being charged with abandonment.
“It’s not OK to dump (an animal) out of your car and expect someone else to take care of it for you,” she said.