Alachua County Animal Resources opened more criminal cases in 2024 than it has in the past 12 years.
This year the department opened six cases, which is the highest it’s been since 2011. Criminal cases are usually opened by Animal Resources if there is animal abuse. Otherwise, animal enforcement officers will issue citations.
Animal Resources has had a downward trend in criminal cases since 2007. The department didn’t open any criminal cases in 2022 and 2023.
Julie Johnson, director of animal resources, attributes this to lower intake since the pandemic and long-term investigations.
“Anytime we find an animal that’s been abused, we are going to ask for criminal charges,” Johnson said.
More frequently, animal resources issues citations, which go to civil court and can be disputed. The process is similar to handling a speeding ticket.
Types of citations
During an Alachua County Commission meeting in September, Johnson shared data on the annual number of citations issued, which showed there was a 50% increase in citations.
“I was just really using the number to show that, yes, we are issuing the citations, we are taking residents' complaints seriously when residents call us,” she said.
The majority of citations comprise two charges: failure to physically control a dog and failure to treat an animal humanely.
Since 2021, the annual number of citations for failure to treat an animal humanely has nearly quadrupled.
Animal resources also issues less common citations involving licensing, vaccinations and breeding.
Starr Grimes, a Gainesville hairstylist, received the only citation for failure to dispose of an animal carcass in the past four years. According to the citation, she dumped a deer carcass in a trash can in a church parking lot.
Grimes said she didn’t dispose of the deer and, instead, paid someone else to do it. Grimes did say, however, that she had been in possession of the carcass.
She had witnessed the deer get hit by a car and decided to retrieve it with the help of other people.
Grimes said, “I was like, oh my God. I want that deer. I want that deer.”
She brought the deer home and prepared it to eat with the help of others. Grimes paid someone to dispose of the carcass, instructing him to “dig a hole on the corner of our property and bury it.”
She said she received a citation two weeks later. The case had been traced back to her and her grandmother because an envelope had been found with the disposed carcass.
Grimes disputed the citation in civil court and said the judge was “laughing and told me I should have brought them some.”
Issuing citations
Most of the citations made by animal resources are the product of a complaint. Animal resources is complaint-driven, according to Johnson.
In fact, she attributes the increase in citations to an increase in complaints. She says there has been no increase in enforcement.
“We try to really not be enforcement-based from the beginning,” she said. “We try to first work with people.”
For this reason, they usually only give citations if a person has a record. This could be a report that didn’t result in a citation but was recorded.
“When we have people that are continually allowing this to happen, we have to take action, and we have to escalate,” Johnson said.
Additionally, animal resources will often provide one citation for every animal involved in an incident.
“It’s not always black and white. The black and white things are easy, right? We know that all of these animals are in poor shape. They all deserve their own citation,” Johnson said.
Shawntavia Hunt, 33, received seven citations for failure to treat an animal humanely on the same day in January. Each citation was for a different animal.
Hunt had multiple interactions with animal enforcement officers. At one point, her dogs were taken from her, but she has since gotten them back.
She said the whole situation was confusing and has been damaging for her.
“I’m way behind on a lot of my bills,” Hunt said. “I could not pay my land taxes because I had to find a lawyer and pay him in order to get my dogs back.”
She also said she was in school but can no longer afford it.
“I cannot take care of myself in the capacity that I was taking care of myself as well as my dogs,” Hunt said.
Encounters with enforcement
Lauren Helfer, a 24-year-old dog trainer, received three citations for failure to physically control a dog on June 16, one for each of her dogs.
She had three Belgian Malinois, one of which is a medical alert and response service dog, according to Helfer.
She said she was outside her house with her dogs when a woman passed by with two smaller dogs and started yelling. This resulted in a fight between the dogs, injuring one of the smaller dogs.
Following the incident, animal resources said they were going to label the dogs as aggressive, according to Helfer. This meant she had to either keep them indoors for six months or fight it in court and muzzle them. She said this would ruin their quality of life.
“I couldn’t do that, and I couldn’t let my dogs sit and rot in the house for six months, so I moved,” Helfer said.
Helfer has since moved out of Gainesville and Alachua County as a whole, leaving the jurisdiction of animal resources.
“It was probably the worst experience of my life,” she said.
Johnson commented on the perception of animal enforcement officers.
"They are really great people," she said. "They are trying. They do take our resident complaints seriously.”