Cedar Rapids Police, Animal Care and Control receive award from Humane Society

CEDAR RAPIDS — Luna the German shepherd was in bad shape when she met Cedar Rapids police investigator Chris Collins in 2020. Luna was starving to death when she was surrendered to Wildthunder Rescue, who reached out to Cedar Rapids police.

Collins had been trained to work on animal abuse cases, but this was one of the first major cases he took on.

“A lot of the times with dogs that just are not fed, they will do really well as soon as they start getting food. So, as soon as they start getting on a proper diet and maybe dewormed or something, they’ll look just like a normal dog,” Collins said. “That’s what happened with Luna, where as soon as she got into any type of care, she did fine. She did great. She got adopted.”

That case ended with a criminal charge of animal neglect causing serious injury, and Collins was awarded the Humane Law Enforcement award from the Humane Society of the United States in 2021 for his work on that case.

The Cedar Rapids Police Department and Cedar Rapids Animal Care & Control received the same award Tuesday at a City Council meeting. The awards are given to agencies and individual officers that “have taken an exemplary stand in support of animal protection,” according to the Humane Society.

“It’s not something where we actively look for somebody to give the award to every year. We really make sure that’s it’s based on merit,” said Preston Moore, Iowa state director of the Humane Society of the U.S.

“We give these awards when we see either an officer, or a department, or an agency really take on some pretty serious cases, and they also take on some leadership within this field … I think we’ve seen that especially here in Cedar Rapids. We have multiple officers now who are handling different types of animal cruelty cases. We have an investigator who has handled, I think, dozens of (cases) and has also offered his expertise to other agencies throughout the state.”

Collins has been working with the Humane Society and with Cedar Rapids Animal Care & Control for several years to respond to animal cruelty cases and build the tools that the police department has for those cases.

A new law that was passed in 2020 strengthened Iowa’s animal abuse code, and Moore said that Collins has helped educate his own and other police departments about the changes and how to enforce them, and that’s part of the reason he received the award last year.

“I take a lot of pride in the work that we do, but I’m not a guy that really looks for credit a lot,” Collins said. “Preston does a good job of giving credit where it’s due and I think, the (police) department and Animal Care & Control has really put an emphasis on ‘hey, we’re going to take this stuff serious,’ and I think that’s showed.”

Collins’ role in animal abuse cases usually comes after an investigation by Animal Care & Control officers. Reports of potential animal abuse or neglect come to that agency, and if, after investigating, the situation looks like it could require criminal charges, rather than just needing better education or a city code citation, then the case gets passed to the police department.

In 2022 so far, the Cedar Rapids Animal Care & Control officers have responded to more than 2,900 complaints, and issued 337 citations, according to Kelly Kelly, program manager of Cedar Rapids Animal Care & Control.

“My staff members out here, the group that is employed here, are very much low key, head down, do the work. We don’t expect to get recognized as much. So this award is really special to us. I know my animal control officers have put in a ton of work over the years for abuse cases and investigating bites, animals running at large, unhealthy and unsanitary conditions. So, the fact that we are getting this award for the work that we have done over the years is really an honor for us,” Kelly said.

The Cedar Rapids Animal Care & Control agency is a unique one in Iowa. Few municipalities have their own shelter for animals, Moore said.

Proper animal treatment laws and enforcement are important not just for the sake of the animals, but also for the sake of human community members, which is why Moore is happy to see the enforcement tactics used in Cedar Rapids being shared across the state.

“All of these crimes, while they’re not committed towards people, are unfortunately strong indicators that these people might hurt other people. And so, I think that’s why it’s important to take these crimes seriously. They do end up helping animals in the moment when we’re able to intervene, but I think the more important part is that they also keep the people in our community safe,” Moore said.

Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com