Law Director: Animal abuse/negligence will be punished

ZANESVILLE, Ohio- A local law director emphasizes that animal negligence or animal abuse will be punished in a court of law.

Zanesville Law Director David Tarbert said there has been misinformation about how pet owners, who don’t properly care for their pets, won’t be punished. He said any animal that suffers from not having adequate shelter, food and water, their owner will be prosecuted. Tarbert said he thinks there was some confusion by a humane officer on the law that protects against animal negligence or abuse.

“Specifically some of the comments she made in the article were that if a pet in this cold weather, an outside dog typically, had frozen water that ‘would be laughed out of court.’ That’s simply not true and I didn’t want that misinformation to be out there to animal owners in the community because I want them to know we will prosecute them. We will take them to court and they could spend some time in jail,” said Tarbert.

Tarbet said this misinformation is nothing against the humane society. He said they have a very hard job with a very limited budget and the humane society does the best they can. He said he just wants to make sure the right information is out there. Tarbet said he has talked with the humane society and they have straightened out any miscommunication.

“This wasn’t a criticism of the humane society because they do amazing work and they do hard work. But, I also wanted to make sure and convey to her that this was a partnership between her office and the law directors office. To make sure that we work together to understand the statue, to understand it’s not vague. That she has a lot of rights and abilities to bring these people to court and that we will prosecute,” said Tarbert.

Tarbet said the punishment for animal negligence or animal abuse is ruled on a case by case bases. Punishments include jail time, having the pet taken away, and fines.