Stopping Animal Cruelty

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) — “We don’t see the animals until they have reached that point of severity. We would rather reach out to folks, find out about animals possibly in need and correct the problem before it gets too bad,” says Marli Drum, Executive Director of Columbia Animal Services Drum is talking about animal cruelty. Wednesday, we met two dogs who were believed victims of animal cruelty. Both were malnourished. “He really can’t even stand up straight yet and that could’ve just been loss of muscle mass, but he’s very thin, very emaciated. He’s actually gained a little bit of weight since he’s been here,” says Drum. But, the dog’s true past isn’t known. “He was actually in our drop case. We don’t know who the previous owner might’ve been or what he’s really been through,” says Drum Malnutrition is just one form of cruelty shelter employees see. “We also run into physical abuse, embedded collars. The collar has been put on, as they grow the owner is not checking the collar to make sure it’s not too small and you end up with a situation where the collar has literally grown into the neck of the animal,” says Drum. Still, as bad as cruelty cases may be, there are beacons of hope like another dog at the shelter named Ricky. Ricky too once suffered from mal-nutrition. Today the only evidence left is Ricky’s limp. “If they aren’t getting the proper nutrition, they don’t form properly they don’t fill out to their potential full size,” says Drum Ricky is now a permanent resident at the shelter to show how things can go from bad to good. If you suspect animal cruelty, call authorities. Drum says sometimes it’s just education that’s needed, while other times are more severe. Still, she says, they want to get more animals in the recovery phase and stop animal cruelty.