COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Columbus Humane is getting ready to report its numbers for its 2023 cruelty investigations.
The organization is a nonprofit but does law enforcement work to keep the community and the pets in it safe and can see as many as 1,500 animals a year come in from cruelty investigations.
Last year, Columbus Humane saw 966 animals admitted through those investigations.
“We consistently get complaints of animal abuse, neglect, torture, torment complaints, and organized animal fighting and we’re in the field every single day of the year responding,” Columbus Humane CEO Rachel Finney said.
The organization reports its cruelty investigation numbers each year to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office. Those numbers touch on what the area is seeing from abuse, neglect and hoarding.
“Not only do we investigate animal cruelty, abuse, neglect, but we also respond when families that have pets are experiencing domestic violence because we know that people will stay in dangerous situations that they can’t take their pet with them,” Finney said.
Columbus Humane said it responds to between 5,000-6,000 complaints of animal cruelty a year in Franklin County. More than a quarter of animal cruelty charges in Ohio come from the group’s work.
Many tips come from the community and the non-profit shares that trends tend to go along with other issues central Ohio leaders frequently talk about, including affordable housing and domestic violence.
Seventy-four animals were admitted to the Safe Haven for Pets program in 2023, which provides veterinary care, food and shelter at no cost to pets of domestic violence victims.
“There’s a very high correlation between domestic abuse, so interpersonal violence, domestic violence, child abuse, and even elder abuse and animal cruelty, they’re highly correlated,” Finney said.
Columbus Humane focuses on animal safety while Franklin County Animal Control focuses on people’s safety.
“We keep people safe from dog-related injuries or incidences whereas Columbus Humane, our good friends over there, keep animals safe from people-related things,” Franklin County Animal Care and Control Field Supervisor Lindsey Allen said.
Allen said the county’s animal control works 24/7/365 and is the largest animal control department in the Midwest.
“We will go and patrol all of Franklin County for loose or stray dogs and we try to get them back home,” Allen said. “So we’ll go in, capture those dogs, get control of them, and then ultimately try to get them home to their people.”
The Animal Care and Control Office will help Columbus Police in some situations as well.
“There may be someone with a DUI that they pull over and they have animals associated with them, so they will call our department animal control officers to come in, remove the dog so then the dog has a safe place to be in the meantime, until an owner situation is figured out, and so the animal control officers really deal with a lot of different situations,” Franklin County Dog Shelter Assistant Director Dwayne Young said.
The two organizations are different but work to support each other. In 2023, the Columbus Humane Cruelty Investigations Department filed 248 charges in 88 cases.
“As an organization that enforces the law, we have to be really careful that we’re not criminalizing poverty,” Finney said. “So when we respond to a complaint, we always offer, ‘Do you need help with food? Do you need some, maybe, baby gates or crates to be able to keep your pet inside? Do you need access to low-cost veterinary care?'” Finney said.
Columbus Humane said that at the end of 2023, there were 35 open cases. While most of those cases are misdemeanors, there is a felony-level case from time to time.
The conviction rate for 2023 is 91%.
Columbus Humane’s work is funded by donations and local government. Columbus City Council recently approved $325,000 for the organization.