Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome into the short stuff. I'm Josh and
Speaker 1: there's Chuck and Jerry sitting in for Dave. So this
Speaker 1: is short stuff, that's right.
Speaker 2: This is all about if you go buy a house
Speaker 2: and you see a dog that's being mistreated, whether or
Speaker 2: not it's okay to bust into that yard or house
Speaker 2: and take that dog.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because of course you would think, well, yeah, there's
Speaker 1: a dog suffering, or a cat suffering, or even a
Speaker 1: pig or something suffering. Of course I should be able
Speaker 1: to go rescue the thing. And the answer is no,
Speaker 1: do not do that. But that doesn't mean you should
Speaker 1: just leave that animal on its own. You should go
Speaker 1: do something about it, and we're going to tell you
Speaker 1: what to do.
Speaker 2: That's right. If you do that, you could get charged
Speaker 2: with trespassing or theft. Of course, all fifty states have
Speaker 2: obviously animal cruelty laws, so you do have some things
Speaker 2: you can do, like well, well, we should talk about
Speaker 2: cars first, because there is a bit of a loophole
Speaker 2: if you see a dog like in a hot car
Speaker 2: in a lot of states, I think thirty one states
Speaker 2: say that's a crime. In fourteen states provide you civil
Speaker 2: immunity for you to just brick that window open and
Speaker 2: get that dog or cat out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, which is pretty cool. Like if you see some
Speaker 1: sort of animal who's whose life is in danger, can
Speaker 1: suffer from serious injury in a hot or very cold car,
Speaker 1: then you can, like you said, break the window. But
Speaker 1: there are some criteria you have to meet in those
Speaker 1: states where they do offer immunity. You have to believe
Speaker 1: the animal is in immediate danger. Immediate danger, not like wow,
Speaker 1: if that animal stays in there for three more hours,
Speaker 1: it's gonna cook. That's a big one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you have to try and find the owner, and
Speaker 2: then you know, try the car door to make sure
Speaker 2: it's locked.
Speaker 1: That's a big one, Like you have to determine that
Speaker 1: there's no other way to free the animal, because wouldn't
Speaker 1: you just have egg on your face if you smash
Speaker 1: somebody's windshield in to unlock the door and found the
Speaker 1: door was already unlocked.
Speaker 2: Yeah, egg and maybe glass, that's right.
Speaker 1: Another one is you want to use the minimum amount
Speaker 1: of force necessary to get in the car, Like you
Speaker 1: don't want to break your way in and then proceed
Speaker 1: to go smash all the rest of the windows in
Speaker 1: just because you know this is your one big chance.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you can't go running at it going.
Speaker 1: Right, because in cartoon fashion, your baseball bets is gonna
Speaker 1: bounce off of the car's window anyway.
Speaker 2: That's right. And then let's say you do all this
Speaker 2: stuff right, you bust that window open, you got that dog,
Speaker 2: you've got to you know, you gotta call nine one
Speaker 2: one of course in most states, and you should anyway,
Speaker 2: But then you got to stay there and wait with
Speaker 2: that animal until somebody of authority shows up.
Speaker 1: Right, some states you have to call nine one one first,
Speaker 1: Others you have to call after. They're like, just get
Speaker 1: to the business of getting the animal out first, right,
Speaker 1: that's right. Like you said that loophole only exists in
Speaker 1: fourteen states, and at least one of them, Indiana, you're
Speaker 1: still on the hook for half of the damage that
Speaker 1: you caused to the vehicle. Seems unfair. Yeah, But even
Speaker 1: if your state is not one of the fourteen, then
Speaker 1: your city might be. I think. So this is a
Speaker 1: rare short stuff that we got help with from Dave,
Speaker 1: And he said that in Boise can you have a
Speaker 1: legal immunity even though in the state of Idaho you don't.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So check your local laws. If you feel like
Speaker 2: you want to drive around and look for hot dogs with.
Speaker 1: A brick, right, well, eating a hot dog.
Speaker 2: So again that is just cars. If you see an
Speaker 2: animal at a house that's in danger, you feel like
Speaker 2: it's in danger, called nine one one. If it's an emergency,
Speaker 2: they'll send somebody out. They may route it to animal control.
Speaker 2: The cops can enforce and handle animal cruelty in a
Speaker 2: lot of places, but the ASPCA found and is a
Speaker 2: little old, but in twenty ten, less than twenty percent
Speaker 2: of police receive that kind of training and less than
Speaker 2: half of them are even familiar with those laws. So
Speaker 2: you'll probably get someone from like animal control sent out.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I looked for an updated study and the best
Speaker 1: I could find was twenty fifteen, and it was supplemental
Speaker 1: more than an update. But the stat that jumped out
Speaker 1: to me is fifty percent of law enforcement officers who
Speaker 1: were polled so that they encounter dog fighting in their
Speaker 1: line of work. So they do need to have better
Speaker 1: training and better awareness of animal cruelty laws. And I
Speaker 1: think something like a good fifty of those same cops
Speaker 1: that were polled said we want more training, more and
Speaker 1: better training to deal with stuff like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, should we take a break.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's take a break, all right. Definitely should drop
Speaker 1: large hous of each other.
Speaker 2: Sk if you should ask.
Speaker 1: What tough you should know? Okay, So if you see
Speaker 1: an animal that is in distress or you think is
Speaker 1: being neglected or abused or something, but their life isn't
Speaker 1: an immediate danger as far as you can tell, there
Speaker 1: are some other things you can do. I don't know
Speaker 1: if we said if you call nine to one one
Speaker 1: you want to report it as an emergency, and then
Speaker 1: the dispatcher will probably be like, well, tell me a
Speaker 1: little bit about it. And depending on whether it's an
Speaker 1: emergency or not, they might send the cops. They might
Speaker 1: send the animal control or animal shelter people. But no
Speaker 1: matter where you live, your city or county is going
Speaker 1: to have some division or department or agency that's in
Speaker 1: charge of enforcing animal cruelty laws. Right. But it's not
Speaker 1: necessarily the cops. It's not even necessarily a governmental agency.
Speaker 1: In some places, it's a charitable organization who steps up
Speaker 1: and is like, well, we'll handle this if nobody else is.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think in thirty four states the Humane Society
Speaker 2: has actual deputized animal control people like deputized by the
Speaker 2: local police that essentially act as the police of this
Speaker 2: kind of thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and in California, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, they're also
Speaker 1: authorized to carry guns. And they're also authorized to shoot
Speaker 1: animal abusers on site. That's not true, but it should
Speaker 1: be true.
Speaker 2: See, you couldn't tell from my whistle whether or not
Speaker 2: I fell for that one. That's my new move.
Speaker 1: Oh it worked because it threw me for a loop.
Speaker 1: I'm also really tired, and I saw Long Legs last night,
Speaker 1: so I'm not quite myself. But we'll see if it
Speaker 1: works again in the future.
Speaker 2: What's Long Legs? I've heard of that? What is that? Dude?
Speaker 1: It's a Perkins new movie. That's your black Coat's Daughter
Speaker 1: and I am the pretty thing who lives in the house.
Speaker 2: Yeah, which we disagreed very famously on Black Coat's Daughter.
Speaker 1: Okay, so this is a lot more movie ish than
Speaker 1: Black Coat's Daughter.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've heard it's good.
Speaker 1: It's very good, but it also like, seriously, I'm not
Speaker 1: quite right today after having seen that movie. It's worth seeing, though,
Speaker 1: I would say get to theaters too and see it
Speaker 1: in theaters.
Speaker 2: I watched the Brian DePalma classic blowout last night on Criterion.
Speaker 1: It's a good one.
Speaker 2: It's a good one, all right. So that's movie recommendations.
Speaker 2: Back to animals. If you know, if this is kind
Speaker 2: of thing that matters to you, then look up what
Speaker 2: you've got going on in your town, find out who
Speaker 2: the animal control agencies are. Uh, there's bound to be
Speaker 2: a website where you can report something like this if
Speaker 2: you don't want to just straight up call nine to
Speaker 2: one one. Or maybe it's the kind of thing where
Speaker 2: you're like, man, I got a bad feeling, something like
Speaker 2: if you've see a dog on a chain or something
Speaker 2: like that, you know, and it doesn't look like it's
Speaker 2: necessarily dying or suffering, you can still file a complaint
Speaker 2: because you shouldn't keep your dog on a chain in
Speaker 2: the front yard or backyard or an yard or sideyard.
Speaker 2: So fill out a complaint online and they will get
Speaker 2: back to you right like you know they they'll they'll
Speaker 2: do it.
Speaker 1: Those don't get ignored even if they don't have some
Speaker 1: sort of like here, write this in this field, and
Speaker 1: write this in this field. There are some like details
Speaker 1: that you want to include or some steps you want
Speaker 1: to take. The first is you want to be as
Speaker 1: detailed as possible about what you think is going on,
Speaker 1: whether it's abuse or neglect or both or whatever, why
Speaker 1: you think that. Yeah, and also you want to make
Speaker 1: sure you have the right address. You don't want the
Speaker 1: swat team showing up with the wrong address of somebody
Speaker 1: who you think is neglecting an animal.
Speaker 2: That's right, especially in those three states that can shoot
Speaker 2: you inside.
Speaker 1: Sure, Another one is sure. Another one is the dates
Speaker 1: and times where you witness the abuse.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a good idea kind of just keep a
Speaker 2: little log of what's going on and when it's happening.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and there's a little just life advice. Anytime something
Speaker 1: significant happens, so you're like, this might come back at
Speaker 1: some point, it's good to note the time and date.
Speaker 1: It just legitimizes whatever you're saying.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, a lot of times these things
Speaker 2: can be done anonymously. I mean, you may have to
Speaker 2: submit your name and contact information. You maybe you can
Speaker 2: make an anonymous tip, but they're also not going to
Speaker 2: say like, hey, you're across the street neighbor said blank
Speaker 2: blank blank.
Speaker 1: Right, yeah that guy there, Yeah, the.
Speaker 2: One looking on his curtains lines exactly.
Speaker 1: And then yeah, so you, but you may be called
Speaker 1: to testify as a witness. That's the reason why you
Speaker 1: might want to be included. And then there's a there's
Speaker 1: a good workaround too if you're like I think something's
Speaker 1: going on. I don't suspect that the dog's life is
Speaker 1: an immediate danger, but I just want to know. I
Speaker 1: want to make sure that the dog's okay. Most of
Speaker 1: the time, you can call in what's called a wellness
Speaker 1: check on an animal with the Humane Society. You can
Speaker 1: do the same thing with humans too, but it can
Speaker 1: do it with animals, and the Humane Society will send
Speaker 1: out an officer who knows what they're doing and knows
Speaker 1: what to look for and all the signs and how
Speaker 1: to speak to people and find out if the dog
Speaker 1: is actually being abused or neglected. And then they'll send
Speaker 1: you a ribbon that you can wear around town that
Speaker 1: just says hero.
Speaker 2: Are we at the point where I can tell my
Speaker 2: quick story of when I've done this?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, please.
Speaker 2: So you haven't even heard this one, but quite a
Speaker 2: few years ago we had we got a report. You know,
Speaker 2: we have our finger on the pulse a little bit
Speaker 2: of the local sort of animal rescue people around us,
Speaker 2: which is you know where we live. It's a wonderful
Speaker 2: team that are doing God's work in the neighborhoods that
Speaker 2: surround me, and we know a lot of them. And
Speaker 2: they're all like, that's how we got Charlie is through
Speaker 2: one of these rescues, like trapping her in the woods
Speaker 2: with some wonderful people. And I tell you what, though,
Speaker 2: you blow that whistle and they're like, we are on it, man,
Speaker 2: what do you need? So I got a report through
Speaker 2: this network that there was a dog that had like
Speaker 2: a family that moved and left this dog in the
Speaker 2: backyard and it was emaciated, which is one of the
Speaker 2: most reprehensible things I can think of, is just to
Speaker 2: not even try and rehome your dog, but to just
Speaker 2: say we're leaving the dog here. And it was on
Speaker 2: our route in our neighborhood, on our dog walk, and
Speaker 2: we went by a couple of times, saw this dog
Speaker 2: in the backyard, and came back with some wire cutters
Speaker 2: and cut a big hole in that chain link fence
Speaker 2: and took this dog and found her a great home.
Speaker 2: And I checked in a couple of times over the years,
Speaker 2: and then realized about three or four months ago that
Speaker 2: I hadn't in a long time and checked in with
Speaker 2: this family, and that sweet old dog had just passed
Speaker 2: away a few months earlier and had a great, great
Speaker 2: life with this.
Speaker 1: Fat That's awesome. That dog went on to be Supreme
Speaker 1: Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
Speaker 2: I never felt so good about doing something. And you
Speaker 2: can look at my Instagram. I posted a the mom
Speaker 2: of the family sent me a picture and this dog
Speaker 2: is one of those that got a totally gray face
Speaker 2: and head basically, and so I kind of told the
Speaker 2: story and put up a little tribute picture on my
Speaker 2: Instagram of when we got this dog and then the old,
Speaker 2: sweet gray face. So that said Chuck the Podcaster, if
Speaker 2: you want to check it out, I probably won't think
Speaker 2: to pin it, but it's in there.
Speaker 1: Very sweet. Man. I guess that's it, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I also don't advise you to do stuff
Speaker 2: like that. We just acted on instinct.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so yeah, just go back and listen to what
Speaker 1: we said and keep an eye out to help animals
Speaker 1: that are in need of help. Okay, everybody do.
Speaker 2: As Chuck says, not as he did.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, of course, I mean short, stuff is out.
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