Just after midnight between Sunday, January 30th and Monday, January 31st, the LHS Animal Response Team (ART) received a call about a dog abandoned at the intersection of Grand and Monmouth in downtown Jersey City. The dog was lying in a snowbank, hypothermic and unable to move. It was 9 degrees at the time. The ART rushed the dog to an emergency veterinarian, where he was not able to be stabilized and died while undergoing overnight care. This was a horrible act of cruelty.

The LHS ART is seeking the public’s help in identifying this dog or anyone involved in his care or abandonment. We are offering a $500 reward for information that leads to successful prosecution of those responsible. Please submit any information you have here: https://www.libertyhumane.org/contact

The LHS ART has referred this situation to the JCPD and asked for a Humane Law Enforcement Officer (HLEO) to investigate. Any information we receive will be shared with PD, once a HLEO is assigned.

Many of you have asked what happens when animal cruelty or neglect is suspected or documented. While the LHS ART is the agency providing animal control service for Jersey City and Hoboken–and often the first on the scene of a suspected animal welfare issue–we are not authorized to formally investigate or prosecute animal cruelty or neglect. We must document and refer our findings to local police departments, who in turn are required to have specially-trained Humane Law Enforcement Officers (HLEO) available to work with us, create a report, initiate an investigation, and choose whether or not to seek prosecution based on available evidence. The ART’s testimony and professional expertise may be used in support of these investigations, but we are not the agency that ultimately decides which incidents are pursued or which result in charges being filed.