Many people are not aware that legal action can be taken to help stop cruelty to animals. Preventing cruelty and neglect is a top priority for the Toledo Area Humane Society’s Cruelty Investigation Team. We encourage all friends to the animals to become involved with their well being by recognizing and reporting acts of violence and neglect toward animals. But what defines abuse or neglect?

Animal cruelty is illegal and can be divided into two categories: neglect and intentional cruelty. Neglect is the failure to provide an animal with the necessities of care such as access to food and fresh water, shelter from the weather (hot or cold), or veterinary care. Intentional cruelty is when an individual purposely inflicts physical harm or injury to an animal. Examples include stories of neighborhood children torturing cats, owners beating an animal that has "misbehaved," and blood sports such as dog and cock fighting.

In order to make life safe and comfortable for the animals in this community, the Toledo Area Humane Society asks citizens who witness someone hurting an animal, or who know of an animal that looks sick, injured or does not have adequate food, water, or shelter, to get help fast. Taking the first step to call for help on behalf of an animal in need is often the difference between its life and death, and it’s confidential.

• Be sure to collect any details you can, such as the location and description of the animal, license plate number, address and description of the home and suspected person, and the nature of the abuse or neglect.
• Don’t wait for the situation to worsen. And don’t attempt to intervene. Sometimes confronting the suspected person can result in retribution to you or the animal.
• Report it to Toledo Area Humane Society's Cruelty Investigation Team at 419-891-9777, call the local police after hours, or email cruelty@ToledoAreaHumaneSociety.org.
• Please leave your phone number in case we need to call to ask for further information. Your call will be confidential; in other words, the offender never needs to know who called us. However, your willingness to be a witness and testify about what you saw can mean the difference between the person being prosecuted or being free to abuse or neglect more animals.
• If you would like to donate funds to our Animal Cruelty Division, please click here.