Animal Welfare Professionals

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  • 1.  Advocating for court hold animals

    Posted 08-29-2023 08:20 AM
    How do you advocate for court case hold animals? These pets often have the longest shelter stays while they await the legal system to determine their outcome. Have you found ways to expedite the process for this special population?
    Pic of Jethro, a dog who was with us for years because it was assumed that his case was just "in process". Once we started meeting with the DA's office we learned that he could have been released, they had just forgotten to let us know. He stayed in a kennel for over a year longer than he had to. And he is not the only one this happened to.
    I know many of you have similar stories, so how do we keep court hold pets moving through the system so they aren't forgotten about?

    #AdmissionsandIntake(includingIntake-to-placement)
    #FieldServicesandPublicSafety*

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    Nichole Boudreau
    Embedded Data & Implementation Coordinator
    Human Animal Support Services at American Pets Alive!
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  • 2.  RE: Advocating for court hold animals

    Posted 08-29-2023 08:50 AM

    What's the reason that the courts are making a decision to hold or not to hold the animals. Was it an abuse case?



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    Gracita Samuel
    Child protective specialist 11
    NYC Children Service
    Jamaica NY
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  • 3.  RE: Advocating for court hold animals

    Posted 08-29-2023 11:17 AM

    I don't remember the specifics of his case per say, but court holds in general are usually for serious violations pertaining to lack of care, abuse, neglect, dangerous dog, hoarding, etc. and the animals are considered evidence in the case. 



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    Nichole Boudreau
    Embedded Data & Implementation Coordinator
    Human Animal Support Services at American Pets Alive!
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  • 4.  RE: Advocating for court hold animals

    Posted 08-30-2023 05:43 AM

    this would be a good topic for a webinar (if there isn't already one (webcast wizard are you out there :)? ).  i know each state is different on their 'rules'  on this . also would be great to get a state by state run down .  I  actually don't know the specifics of New England states (does anyone out there ?) but I do know there are cases where the dogs (esp ones held for 'evidence' or being used as a pawn by the system) are not allowed out by volunteers, not allowed on outings and certainly not allowed to be fostered.  This is severe abuse for sure.  Glad you brought this up.



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    Mary Lou Maraganis
    President
    Animal Rescue Konnection
    Gloucester MA
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  • 5.  RE: Advocating for court hold animals

    Posted 08-31-2023 05:47 AM

    Have you checked out the Justice Clearinghouse webinar library? There are a handful that may cover this in some smaller detail, however, I agree this is a great suggestion for a standalone webinar! I will work on that but in the meantime, if you are a NACA member try a few of these from the JCH library! Animal Cruelty Reporting: What Law Enforcement and Justice Professionals Need to Know, Animal Cruelty and Violent Crime: What First Responding Officers Need to Know, Connecting the Dots in Civil and Criminal Justice: Protecting People by Focusing on Animal Abuse, When the Evidence Wags Its Tail.



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    Jerrica Owen, CAWA
    Executive Director
    National Animal Care & Control Association (NACA)
    jowen@nacanet.org
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