Legislature turns down proposed animal abuse registry for Tioga County

While laws to make animal cruelty a Felony are being looked at on the Federal level, in New York there are five counties that have animal abuse registries, to include neighboring Broome County. These public databases mirror sex offender registries and include the person’s mug shot, nature of their crime, and other information. It is also accompanied with a fee to register, which often helps to pay for the maintenance of the registry.

The Owego Dog Owners Group, ODOG, drafted and submitted a local law to the Tioga County Legislature earlier this year to create a registry for the county that would be similar to that in Broome County. The Legislature, however, rejected the proposal during a work session.

Marte Sauerbrey, chair of Tioga County Legislature, stated that they were reluctant to spend tax money on animals when it could be better spent on protecting children, for example. They also felt as if this issue should be handled by the state, not the counties. 

On top of that, the Legislature was anticipating New York State’s Freedom of Information Law to be modified. It states that booking photographs can be withheld for personal privacy “unless public release of such information will serve a specific law enforcement purpose, and disclosure is not precluded by any state or federal laws.” 

Broome County is one of the counties in the state to have an animal abuse registry. The database is an extension of the Sheriff’s Office website. 

This leaves Barb Boncek, ODOG secretary, questioning Tioga County’s decision to not have a registry. 

She acknowledges a start-up fee, but in the local law draft the group presented, ODOG explains that when someone is convicted and placed on a registry they pay administrative fees that would cover the database’s upkeep costs.  

ODOG insists that this registry will serve more of a public good than just compiling a list of local animal abusers. 

“In my opinion,” Boncek said, “this could be another tool.” 

Boncek said ODOG found data confirming that people who commit animal cruelty are more likely to commit acts of domestic violence. ODOG also hoped that local animal shelters would be able to use the registry when processing adoptions. 

When someone adopts a dog or cat at Stray Haven Human Society and SPCA, they may not get a full background check, but someone may look at their Facebook page. Kala Sundermeyer, shelter manager, says that is as in-depth as the shelter can go realistically. The shelter also has an in-house system of banning people who have adopted and then quickly “lost” their pets. 

“We need to be their voice of reason and to have that kind of registry would be fantastic for the animal welfare world,” Sundermeyer added. 

Most of the dogs that come in to Stray Haven are brought in by dog control, are found stray, or are owner surrenders. Sundermeyer says that some of the animals will cower in fear to sudden movements or a raised hand. The hope is that these dogs will get adopted someday, but it is one of the shelter’s priorities that the animals are not put back in a dangerous situation. 

Stray Haven receives at least two calls a week regarding animal cruelty or abandonment. For most of the cases, the best the shelter can do is to take down the information and alert the Tioga County Sheriff’s Office. In fact, Boncek and Sauerbrey say that Sheriff Howard has always been supportive of animal welfare. 

“We do address these issues,” Sauerbrey said. “We just aren’t creating a [registry] at this time.”