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Have you ever seen someone hurting an animal and felt like you couldn't do anything to stop it? Well, read on -- there are important ways that you can help make a difference.
1) Be aware. Without phone calls from the concerned citizens who report cruelty in their neighborhoods, we would not know about most instances of animal abuse. It all starts with you. That's why it's so important to keep your eyes and ears open. Get to know and look out for the animals in your neighborhood.
2) Learn to recognize animal cruelty. Here are some signs and symptoms that we see in many of the cases we investigate:
- Leaving a dog outside in adverse weather without proper shelter.
- Not providing adequate food or water.
- Someone striking or torturing an animal.
- "Sport" fighting (dog fighting).
- Animals who cower in fear, or act aggressively when approached by their owners.
- Not getting medical treatment in a timely manner for an illness or injury such as:
Tick or flea infestations (such a condition, if left untreated by a veterinarian, can lead to an animal's death), patches of missing hair, extremely thin or starving animals, limping, embedded collar (collar too tight around dogs neck, cutting into it - typically caused by it not being resized larger as a dog grows larger).
3) Provide as much information as possible when reporting animal cruelty. The details that you provide can go a long way toward assisting our investigators. It helps to write down the type of cruelty you witnessed, who was involved, the date and time of the incident, and where it took place. If you have a camera (video is even better), pictures or video of the abuse or neglect will help tremendously.
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