Crime Stoppers takes aim at animal abuse

BALTIMORE - The tail between the legs tells part of the story but his wide eyes and protruding ribs tell the rest.       

"Oh my gosh!  So you're a boy and you're very, very thin, way too thin," remarked the BARCS Veterinarian Technician.

Pop, as the volunteers at BARCS call him was clearly neglected.

Severely underweight with sores on his ears, he is unfortunately just one in a constant flow of animals lucky enough to be brought in for a fresh start; most of the time the vet techs here not knowing who or how the animal got that way.

"A lot of animal crimes go unreported for the simple reason that animals can't speak so law enforcement officials have to rely heavily on witnesses to report these crimes."         

And now they have avenue to do just that.           

Caroline Griffin is the chair to the Mayor's Anti-Animal Abuse Advisory Commission.      

Formed after the burning death of a dog named phoenix back in 2009, this commission remains the only one of its kind in the nation and has grown since its inception.       

It now has a devoted officer from the Baltimore city Police Department, a representative from the Baltimore city State's Attorneys Office and now, a direct line to Metro Crime Stoppers.    

It is a renewed effort to use 866-7-LOCKUP to help curb a trend in Baltimore city that went from 18 cases of severe animal cruelty in 2010 to 45 in 2011.                   

"I look back on some of the serious cases that we've had over the past year, there were a number of cats set on fire, there were a number of dogs that appeared to be victims of dog fighting and left in abandoned buildings and arrests have not been made in some of these really horrific cases because witnesses have not come forward.  We think crime stoppers will really help law enforcement crack these cases," said Griffin.

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Animal Abuse Cases            2009                    2010                    2011

Baltimore City                       n/a                        18                        45

Baltimore County                  13                        11                        2

Howard County                     346                      349                      360

Anne Arundel County           148                      149                      169

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Earl Winterling is the President of Crime Stoppers and says while the tip line can always be used for felonies of any type, this renewed relationship could help curb what is often a under reported crime.

"They are getting maybe four or five animal cruelty cases a month and once that advertisement goes into play that say hey, you could be eligible for a cash reward up to 2000 dollars and remain anonymous...I envision the tips that come in will be even more."                         

In addition to re-enforcing the use of Crime Stoppers for animal abuse cases, it also gives the anti-animal abuse commission an outlet to distribute donations often received to catch abusers.

"I think it is a really good marriage and they are going to work well together," said Captain Sam Cogen is with the Baltimore city Sheriff's Department.

He sits on the anti-animal abuse commission and now the Metro Crime Stoppers board.     

He generated this idea and feels there will be a huge payout.              

"Oh it's a great partnership, I am very excited about it because again it brings in a resource to the commission that we didn't have and Metro Crime Stoppers is a really good resource to get the information out and to energize the public and to provide cash rewards to people who are reporting animal abuse."

Even in cases like Pop's which is more of a misdemeanor.    

Tips the commission hopes begin to pour in preventing or saving animals from abuse or negligence.