Surviving Abuse That Never Should Have Happened

Help Furkids Save Them

Sugar Pie had been shot with buckshot and had lost the use of her leg – and she was alone and scared. With buckshot throughout her little body and struggling just to get around, Sugar Pie had very little hope of recovering from being brutally shot.

Cinderella was discovered down in a manhole; cold, alone, very scared - and very stuck. Eventually, emergency workers were able to pull her out with a pole. It turns out she had been thrown into the manhole by her owner. In addition to being badly traumatized, Ella had mange and a fever. She was clearly abused both physically and mentally.

Sugar Pie and Cinderella are two more victims of the cruel abuse humans deliberately inflict on animals every day in Georgia. We have recently seen an uptick in victims of abuse, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic began. We need to do something about it – we ALL need to do something about it. The good news is that we can. Each and every one of us simply must report animal abuse when we see it. Recently, Georgia and National law was changed to make certain forms of animal abuse a felony, and there are serious penalties. But the laws and penalties only work when the crimes are reported. That’s where we all can make a difference, and end animal abuse.

What Can You Do?

Help Abused Animals Survive and Recover. Please donate to help us save more injured animals. Your action today will make an immediate difference in saving lives tomorrow!

Report abuse. To report someone of suspected of animal cruelty, call your local county animal control agency or the police. It’s important to document well, and know who did it, have a witness, and whatever evidence you can gather. Many cruelty cases never go to trial because of a lack of one or more of these elements. To document, you’ll need:

Witness: The name, address and telephone number of the person who witnessed the alleged incident.
Who committed the crime: An accurate identity of the alleged perpetrator, if known, including name, address and telephone number, if possible; other helpful identifying information may include physical description, place of employment, description of vehicles (including tag numbers) and known associates or co-participants in the alleged criminal activity.
What happened: An accurate description of the incident witnessed is important. The investigator must receive sufficient details and be able to verify substantial portions of the information as true before being used to establish probable cause. Document complete descriptions of the animals and associated conditions and include:

Pertinent conversations with the alleged perpetrator
Eyewitness accounts to reconstruct the exact happenings of what and how the incident occurred, in written form. Photos and videos are most helpful
Written verification of conditions of the animal(s) (i.e., veterinary examination findings)
Dates and times of incident(s)
The specific location where the incident was witnessed (physical address and city, community, or county), including directions.

Keep Trying. It’s difficult to get information when people fear retaliation, and sometimes the evidence is difficult to find. Animal abusers often get away with their crimes because of this, but there is certainly no way they’ll stop abusing if you do nothing. Do something!

Cruelty to animals GA. CODE ANN. § 16-12-4(b)
A person commits the offense of cruelty to animals when he or she:

Causes physical pain, suffering, or death to an animal by any unjustifiable act or omission; or
Having intentionally exercised custody, control, possession, or ownership of an animal, fails to provide to such animal adequate food, water, sanitary conditions, or ventilation that is consistent with what a reasonable person of ordinary knowledge would believe is the normal requirement and feeding habit for such animal's size, species, breed, age, and physical condition.

Penalties:

1st offense: Misdemeanor, with max penalty of 1 year in prison or $1000 fine
Subsequent offenses: High and aggravated misdemeanor, with max penalty of 1 year in prison or $5000 fine

Aggravated cruelty to animals GA. CODE ANN. § 16-12-4(d),(e) 1
A person commits the offense of aggravated cruelty to animals when he or she:

Maliciously causes the death of an animal
Maliciously causes physical harm to an animal by depriving it of a member of its body, by rendering a part of such animal's body useless, or by seriously disfiguring such animal's body or a member
Maliciously tortures an animal by the infliction of or subjection to severe or prolonged physical pain
Maliciously administers poison to an animal, or exposes an animal to any poisonous substance, with the intent that the substance be taken or swallowed by the animal
Having intentionally exercised custody, control, possession, or ownership of an animal, maliciously fails to provide to such animal adequate food, water, sanitary conditions, or ventilation that is consistent with what a reasonable person of ordinary knowledge would believe is the normal requirement and feeding habit for such animal's size, species, breed, age, and physical condition to the extent that the death of such animal results or a member of its body is rendered useless or is seriously disfigured.

Penalties:

1st offense: 5 years prison and/or $15,000 fine
Subsequent offenses: 10 years prison and/or $100,000 fine

Various dogfighting activities GA. CODE ANN. § 16-12-37
Any person who:

Owns, possesses, trains, transports, or sells any dog with the intent that such dog shall be engaged in fighting with another dog
For amusement or gain, causes any dog to fight with another dog or for amusement or gain, causes any dogs to injure each other
Wagers money or anything of value on the result of such dogfighting
Knowingly permits or enables any dogfighting activities on their property/premises
Knowingly promotes or advertises an exhibition of fighting with another dog

Penalties: