“Why Don’t You Call the Cops?”
Lots of people want to know why veterinarians don’t call the cops when there is suspected or actual animal abuse.
TL;DR is that the police often don’t care or cannot do anything.
The longer version is more complex. First, what constitutes abuse? Unfortunately in many jurisdictions if an animal has food, water, and shelter it doesn’t matter what medical condition it is in. I’ve had some really horrible cases and I have called the police and no charges were brought because the owner brought the animal to the vet which shows good intent. Never mind if they refuse all care, simply bringing the pet to the clinic can be enough.
Another issue is the sheer number of cases that could qualify as abuse. It’s sad but I have to be selective about which cases I choose to report because the likelihood of anything being done is less when there are multiple other cases.
A major issue, at least for me, is my personal safety as well as that of the pet and other people in the home. On more than a few occasions the police have given my name or at least my clinic information to the person who I filed a complaint about. Call anonymously right? Often if they don’t hear that it is a veterinarian they just don’t follow up at all. I once reported someone because their dog was clearly being abused and I suspected the man’s wife was as well. The police did a check and found nothing amiss but the next time I saw the woman she had a broken arm. I’ll never know if it was related to my report but I worry I will endanger someone’s life by reporting abuse of a pet.
