New York State Humane Association Workshops
NYSHA is now partnering with the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) to provide many of these workshops. See the newsletter article announcing this partnership.
NYSHA conducts the following workshops during the year:
- Investigating Animal Cruelty Workshop – This workshop is intended for police, humane law enforcement, and animal control officers; however, anyone with an interest in the topic is welcome to attend, space permitting. This is a one-day workshop (9 AM to 3:00 PM) held in various locations around the state and includes the following presentations:
- The relationship between animal abuse and human violence
- Article 26, the NYS anti-cruelty laws, what they mean and how best to enforce them.
- The role of the veterinarian in an animal cruelty case. How best the veterinarian should be used to present evidence.
- How to effectively assist the district attorney’s office to make a good case; effective ways to prepare a search warrant, collect evidence, and complete an Information, so the case is winable.
- Cruelty Investigation Workshop with a Large Animal Focus – The first day of this two-day workshop includes all the elements of the one-day workshop noted. The second day normally is a half day spent at area farms where a large animal veterinarian instructs attendees on good animal husbandry, so they will recognize its absence when investigating a farm animal cruelty case. The vet points out specific areas that attendees should observe for signs of abuse or neglect. For example, if they find overgrown hooves on horses, that is a sign to call a veterinarian to the scene.
- Workshop for Veterinarians – This workshop focuses on the role of a veterinarian in a cruelty case. If called by police to the scene of an animal cruelty case, the veterinarian needs to know how to give testimony, needs to properly complete examination forms, needs to put convey that certain signs of neglect all combine to form a large picture of neglect. It cannot be stressed enough that a veterinarian’s testimony is critical to the successful prosecution of an animal cruelty case. This course shows those dedicated veterinarians how to be most effective.
- Public Workshops – NYSHA holds public workshops which include the presentation on the connection between animal abuse and human violence and a presentation on how the public should report animal cruelty. These are usually held in the evening.