A Department of Justice spokesman Tuesday said federal officials have a pair of new efforts to crack down on animal abuse that violates federal law: a $5,000 reward and a tip line to help people report crimes.
The reward is for “information leading to the successful prosecution of criminals who violate the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act, a federal law that carries penalties of up to seven years in prison,” according to a news release shared Tuesday by Ciaran McEvoy, spokesman for the Central District of California.
“The federal jurisdiction is anything over state lines, anything with impact on interstate commerce, anything that is on federal territory, like national parks, national monuments … that fall under the federal government,” McEvoy said in a phone interview Tuesday.
He described the role of the FBI as “quarterbacking” the operation, with his statement indicating the information would be shared with the Animal Abuse Task Force that was created last year.
The prosecutions would be led by federal prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office Environmental Crimes and Consumer Protection Section, which works with the FBI, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, the Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles City Animal Control, and other state and local law enforcement officers.
The Santa Clarita Valley has a number of rescue organizations, as well as federal land within L.A. County’s Animal Care and Control coverage area.
Kathy Miller, president of Doggy Smiles Rescue, which receives grant funding from the city of Santa Clarita to help with local animal adoptions, supported the effort, but also wanted to make sure the new system wouldn’t further strain the resources of L.A. County. Miller said her organization works closely to support county Animal Care and Control, and she sees the growing challenges faced daily by its staff.
McEvoy said the new system was intended to create a centralized resource for people who see crimes on federal land, which could include the Angeles National Forest, as well as an incentive for providing useful evidence to investigators.
The PACT Act referenced in the DOJ news release involves more severe forms of intentional abuse, and McEvoy said that local concerns, such as insufficient shade or inadequate care, would still be addressed by local agencies.
“This task force focuses on charging serious animal abuse crimes throughout the Central District of California, the most populous federal district in the country,” according to the DOJ’s statement. “The seven-county district is home to nearly 20 million residents and is comprised of the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura.”
The Santa Clarita Valley has seen its share of animal-abuse allegations, with a 2017 cockfighting raid netting federal officials the largest seizure of fighting birds in U.S. history up to that point. A raid of Rock ‘N Pawz Animal Rescue in Lake Hughes in March rescued more than 700 animals from the facility. Last week, the Linda Blair Worldheart Foundation was inspected for potential code violations.
Ellie Laks, founder of The Gentle Barn, a nonprofit on Sierra Highway that cares for animals “too old, sick, scared, or injured to be adopted,” according to its website, saw a few potential positives in creating incentives to report such behavior, including that it gives animals more protection.
“The other reason why it’s really good, and I’m imagining this is why the FBI is doing this, is serial killers, rapists, people that do heinous things to other people, typically start with animal abuse as children,” she said in a phone interview Tuesday. “So, when you get people more motivated to report humans’ animal abuse, you’re also allowing the FBI to be alerted to someone that would probably prey on humans as well. So, it not only protects animals but people alike, and I think it’s a really good program, and it gives the animals more protection that they deserve.”
