Suffolk County DA announces Animal Cruelty Task Force
BOSTON - Hoping to prevent and stop animal abuse and neglect, Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced the creation of an Animal Cruelty Task Force Wednesday. WBZ-TV's I-Team first reported the plans last week.
Hayden said the team would work together in the best interests of pets who have been abused or neglected to help them and society as a whole to be better and do better.
Massachusetts court data shows from 2019-2022, animal cruelty cases increased by more than 70%. The FBI has been tracking these cases for years and uncovered a link between animal abuse and human violence especially in the home.
Neal Litvack, the president of MSPCA-Angell, says there are a number of reasons, including during the pandemic people got pets who probably shouldn't have, not realizing the time, care, and cost of having a pet. Massachusetts went through a significant economic turmoil during which Litvack said numbers of neglect and cases almost always rise.
Finally, now that the pandemic is over and people are back together, there are more incidents of people having difficulty with one another and very often when there is a pet in the home that animal becomes the victim.
The task force includes Chelsea, Winthrop, Revere, and Massachusetts State Police as well as the MSPCA and the Animal Rescue League.
Hayden is promising a top to bottom approach to how they deal with the issue. That includes education, financial help, and counseling, all the way up to criminal charges and prosecution.