Animal abuse is a dark and hidden issue, but knowing what to look for can save a life—both human and animal. In this powerful episode, we sit down with recently retired Officer Gary Levine of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Animal Cruelty Task Force. He reveals the shocking link between animal abuse and other crimes (like drug offenses and domestic violence), explains how Florida classifies these offenses (misdemeanor vs. felony), and shares the inspiring story of Lieutenant Hope, the three-pawed pit bull ambassador. Learn the critical signs of neglect and the best way to report animal abuse anonymously to break the cycle of violence.
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What To Do If You Witness Animal Abuse – Officer Gary Levine
Everyone, welcome to the show. Janet, if you have ever come across incidents where someone is abusing an animal, would you know what to do?
Honestly, no, I would not even know what to look for, quite frankly. That is why I am so excited about our spectacular guest, whom we come to know and love. Alice is going to tell a little secret to the officer. She is a fan of you.
I am a fan girl.
I am a fan of yours. I mean, you have done so much for our animal cruelty task force. I cannot even begin besides writing articles for our social media. You have got food from Blue Buffalo for our rescue, Lieutenant Hope. She is the best. I do not know if you remember, but you helped us reach out to Dr. Missy Carpentier.
Yes, Dr. Missy Carpentier.
We had Missy Carpenter, we had a neurological issue with one of our rescues, and she is brilliant.
I have to tell you, veterinary medicine, I have said this to Janet, and I am sure it is like this as a police officer, it is a family, it is a network. This one knows this one. If Dr. Carpentier has been on the show, she is a neurologist. You have an eye problem, and I can get you an ophthalmologist. You have a neurological problem, and I can get you.
Anyway, I was so thankful that you are on the show because of a little bit about Officer Levine. He was the public information officer for the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Animal Cruelty Task Force for the past nine years, which is in Lee County, Florida. Recently retired. Guess what? He is as busy as ever. He is volunteering for a bunch of programs that I want him to tell us about. I will have a link in the show notes.
Legal Classification Of Animal Abuse
You guys have to go to the Lee County Sheriff‘s website because my favorite thing is that they have an animal abuser registry where they have the pictures of all the convicted animal offenders. I love that. My first question, Gary, if we may call you Gary, I know times I have read that someone is abusing an animal, and it is a misdemeanor. Why is it not a felony, or is it always a felony? Can you explain that to us?
It is not always a felony, and occasionally it is a misdemeanor. There are offenses like depriving animals of shelter, inhumane transportation of animals, and even failing to provide veterinary care that are considered misdemeanors. Some of these lesser offenses are resolved with a citation. Sometimes animals are seized. The other end of the spectrum is the third-degree felony of aggravated animal abuse, which, unfortunately, we see too often.
Is that jail time?
That is jail. We will probably touch upon it during our conversation, but our sheriff really is a serious animal lover. When he took his position as sheriff, I remember one incident. I was in PIO, where we received a call from our animal control about an incident, and the sheriff turned around, took out his cell phone, called the captain from that district, and he said just in one sentence, you have 24 hours to find the person who is responsible for this. They did. It grew from there. It has been an amazing ride to just grow into something really special.
Were you always in the animal abuse unit? How do you get into that?
This is my passion, and they really allowed me to run with it. One of the sheriff’s priorities/initiatives was animal abuse. He let me go my own way and get involved everywhere I thought I could help, and we have done everything from cat adoption events and bunny adoption events to all of the investigations that have been done on the arrests that have been made. It is great. We take a proactive stance against animal abuse. We take Lieutenant Hope out to schools.
The Story Of Lieutenant Hope, The Task Force Ambassador
Tell Janet who Lieutenant Hope is.
We will have a picture of Lieutenant Hope in the notes, but go ahead.
We give out Lieutenant Hope stuffed animals. We had these custom-made, try to find a stuffed animal with three paws.
It is a tripod.
What happened was Lieutenant Hope. We received a report of neglect, and when law enforcement arrived, there was a rusty chain that was wrapped around her leg. She had been tethered, which is illegal. They brought the dog to the Gulf Coast Humane Society, and they tried their best, but they could not save the paw. They did an amazing job in the amputation. It is as smooth as can be.
She is amazing. She runs, she chases my dog full speed, she jumps up onto my bed. She is just amazing. She goes into these schools, and she literally walks over. I will tell you this story. I took her to a camp with 50 children, and the kids were seated Indian style in five rows of ten, and I had her on a leash, and I walked her into the room. I do not say anything to her. She goes over to the first child, licks the child’s face, and walks down the whole line.
Every child that would allow her to lick their face, she did. At the end of the line, again, I am not guiding her. She made a U-turn and went up the line in the other direction. She just knows. She is such a great ambassador, but not only for our task force, but I mean, she is a pit bull terrier. She is a great ambassador for her breed. She is the most loving dog that I have ever met in my life, and I have met a lot of dogs.
When I was at Gary’s office, she was there, and she had the cutest pajamas.
She has more outfits than Paris Hilton.
Identifying Signs Of Animal Abuse
How do I suspect that there is animal abuse going on? What do I look for?
Animal abuse is a wide range. It depends on what we are talking about. If you are talking about dog fighting, cock fighting, or neglect, I think there are common-sense things. You see dogs tethered, you see dogs with injuries and wounds, you hear crying and whatnot. You see animals that are clearly when you body score them, their ribs are showing. These are the signs, and people must report them.
I will get into a couple of ways that you can report it, but people must report it because animal abuse and human abuse go hand-in-hand. Even if you are not a lover of animals, rest assured, people who are abusing animals, the vast majority of them, are doing things they should not be doing. Our deputies have responded using so many search warrants that were initiated because of animal abuse, and they will enter a home, they will find heroin, fentanyl, firearms, blank credit cards, and of course, child abuse, sexual abuse, and domestic violence.
That is why growing this animal cruelty task force is so important. It is not just about animals. Even if you are a person or a law enforcement agency that does not give a hoot about animals, there is so much more going on, and this opens the door to all of these crimes. Reporting it honestly is going to save probably more than that dog or cat or whatever the animal is. There is likely something else going on.
It is going to break the cycle.
I do not know if you could ever break the cycle, but we are trying.
The other abuse I have seen, Gary, because I also follow Detroit Dog Rescue, a lot of people move out and leave the pets in the rental or the house.
Neighbors, keep your eyes and ears open. You saw there was a pet there. You see, they moved out, you hear barking or crying in there, call somebody. Say something. You are not wasting the officer’s time by having them go in there.
We get a lot of calls. We have people who are evicted. We have people who just leave. They leave for whatever their reason is. An animal to a lot of them is not a priority. They will leave the animal with no food, no water, in a crate. We have seen animals, and we have responded to deceased animals left in crates out in the Florida sun. It is like you put a turkey in the oven at Thanksgiving. This is the same thing.
What happens once you rescue that animal?
They cannot have that animal back, right?
No, when we have, you mentioned the animal abuse registry. This is the best thing. Now people are placed on the animal abuse registry, and it is not forever. I wish it were, but usually for a term like five years or a longer period of time, they cannot own or possess an animal.
Is that a national registry?
No, it started out locally. Now it has grown to a state registry, and I am confident that it is going to become a national registry. Why it is important is not only to animal shelters that will check the registry before adopting out an animal, but Janet, if you are rehoming a dog, which I am not a big fan of, you have access to that. It is a QR code. You go in, and this person is on the animal abuse registry. “No, I am not giving this person my cat.”
Gary, I think I read 65% of animal abusers abuse humans.
I cannot tell you where or when it was done a while back. They interviewed a very large sample of domestic violence victims who were in a shelter. They were in a domestic violence shelter. These people were in a shelter, and they owned pets. Seventy-one percent of these people said that their abuser threatened, harmed, or killed their pet. That is the norm. That is not the exception.
Do not forget, when that individual goes to a DVCC shelter, they cannot bring their pet.
Safe Paws Program For Domestic Violence Victims & Pets
Let us talk about SAFE PAWS. Thank you, Janet.
There you go. Yes, that distressed me. In my younger days, I worked with the Department of Children and Families and investigated child abuse. I am not going to say it happened weekly, but very frequently, we had a domestic violence situation where it was recommended that the victim, usually a woman, go to a shelter. Shelters do not take animals.
About two years ago, I was reading an article online about a coalition in Minnesota that got together, and they started to gather foster homes for domestic violence victims. I said, “That is really cool. Why can’t we do that down here?” I went to a friend who is the CEO of United Way, and she said, “I think that is great,” and they have funded it. We have the Gulf Coast Humane Society on board.
Now, if a domestic violence victim has a pet, they call us. It gets even better. We pick the pet up, and we bring the pet over to the Gulf Coast Humane Society. The pet is examined by a veterinarian. The pet is microchipped. We have papers signed. If the pet is not spayed or neutered, they are going to leave it spayed or neutered. They are placed in a foster home where we provide everything. Food, a bed, a harness, a leash, dog bowls, dog toys, whatever you need, we have it. United Way has allowed me to use their enormous warehouse.
They have allowed me to use part of their warehouse to stash all of these goodies, like beds and stuff. It is just so cool. No one will ever have to surrender their pet or be re-victimized after being in domestic violence. We are hoping that it grows to where we have seniors who have to go in for, let us say, hip replacement or long-term care or veterans who are deployed, so that these people never have to surrender their pets.
One of my dreams is to start a program, a mobile veterinary program for seniors. Some of them have large dogs, even though most have little ones, some of them have large dogs, they cannot get those dogs into the car to get to the vet. It is so important for seniors to have pets. It gets them up, gets them going, gets them thinking about the pet and not themselves, and we just need to get funding for it.
A lot of it is affordability, too. You have a lot of seniors who are on fixed incomes, and if it comes to paying the rent or veterinary care, you know what is going to be chosen.
It is funny, I was taking Libby, our golden, to the vet one day, and I knew the guy that was in the car next to me was an older guy, and I said, “How are you?” He says, “My appointment is in ten minutes. Tell the doctor I am here.” He was elderly, and the vet would come out to serve. It was really cute. I said, “Is everything okay?” He says, “No, they come out, and they help me out here.” I was like, “Let me tell you a story about that, though.” After practicing for 30 years, I saw the third generation of pets.
In the third generation of pets, the pet owners are now in their 70s. They have always had these big strapping yellow labs. They would come in being pulled in by the yellow lab, who is now 80 pounds, and these people have had shoulder and hip replacement. I would tell the girls, my staff, I would say, “Would you help the Joneses out with Molly?” I knew it was like a hip break or shoulder dislocation. They think, “The last pet was a yellow lab, and it was fifteen, and it was just walking out.” This thing is like a white tornado now.
That is like Golden Fest. I have been sitting for all these hours, and I watch these little people and seniors, they are almost like kites flying through the air being pulled by their dogs. It is kind of hilarious.
Post-Rescue Procedures & The Animal Abuser Registry
Let us go back to what happens when you rescue an animal. Who do you call? What happens next? Thank you.
Because the sheriff’s office is a county agency, the animal goes to our Domestic Animal Services, which is our county animal shelter.
Are you able to take every abused animal or just the ones that have been abused chronically, and you have to get them out of there?
It depends on the severity. We do not want to create another homeless pet. If there is a service that could be provided, if a person has neglected their pet because it is unaffordable, or something that we believe can be remedied, we want them to stay with the pet. We have enough homeless shelter animals. Yeah, we often seize dogs. It’s very often when these people are confronted that they voluntarily surrender their dogs because they are like, “I do not want trouble.”
We don’t want to create more homeless pets. If neglect stems from financial hardship or a fixable issue, we aim to provide support so the pet can stay with its owner. Share on XWhat if you find a poodle that is all matted? Some of them are so matted that they cannot even poop. Do you say to the owner, “Listen, you have got to have this dog groomed. We are going to check back in a week. If it is not groomed, then we are going to do something further.” Is that the procedure?
That is right. It depends, I guess, on the response from the owner. If the owner seems to have regrets and remorse, we will work with them. If they seem to be indifferent to the animal, we will take the animal.
I guess what would bother me is if I saw a beautiful manicure and a lovely outfit on this person that answers the door, and the dog looks like hell, I would really be upset. I am sorry that your daily Starbucks could pay for a groom.
For sure. I saw that with working for DCF. I saw people who had $100 manicures, and there was no food in their refrigerator for their children.
It is all about the nails.
I spend so much money on my hair.
Can I just say something, too? Working with rescues as I do, you cannot be judgmental because, for example, in Ohio, the rescue group I work with, we get a lot of dogs from the Amish. They are done breeding them, and God only knows what they would do to them if they did not call our rescue. As soon as they call, we go, and they will sometimes say, “You want that dog? Take that one too.” We do not judge. Like, “Why is he not on heartworm preventative?” because then they are not going to call us.
As much as I want to say, I remember we had a young man who had a fox terrier. The ears were so infected that they were swollen shut. My technician wanted to go on a rampage and say, “How come you are not letting him have it?” I said, “I will tell you why. If I express judgment to him, that dog is not going to get any care at all.” He is not going to go anywhere. The little bit we were doing for that dog to allay some of its pain and swelling was all he was going to get done. It is a tough tightrope.
You also have to consider, is this person going to get nervous and just open the back door and let the dog wander off? The dog ran away as opposed to spending the money at the vet. You walk a tightrope.
From all my years working in the nonprofit world and working with humans who are in need of help, there is one important lesson. It is like my second day, everybody has a story. We would have someone pull up in a fancy Mercedes. That might be all they have left. They might be sleeping in that car. You cannot just judge.
You just cannot be judgmental. It is easy to be angry, and it is easy to form a first impression, but it just does not help. It does not help the situation.
Distinguishing Between Law Enforcement & Animal Control Jurisdiction
Gary, when do they call the police department, and when do they call animal control if we see something, or is it the same number?
When does it become an arrest?
I want to know who to call, 911?
Both get calls. Domestic Animal Services gets calls, and if it rises to a felony, they call the Animal Cruelty Task Force and vice versa. There are times when the Animal Cruelty Task Force will receive information, and it is really something that Domestic Animal Services can handle, and they will call them. We have a very good working relationship.
I have never met a group of officers that was more caring than the group that Gary was with.
It starts with our sheriff, though.
Gary, you are going to love this story. When I lived in New York, we had had a party the night before, and then my roommate, somebody tried to mug them in the little vestibule, and the cops came. The cops came, and they were dragging guys out of the subway like this. They came back to our apartment, and they said, “Is there anything else you need?” I said, “Actually, we had a party last night, and we do not know how to untap the keg to take it back.”
They are like, “That is because you were cute young girls. We are on it.” They went in and they de-tapped the keg in the bathtub, and they took it back to the liquor store for us. They would be on patrol. We would hear whoop, whoo 24:33 when they would come by. They became like our friends. We invited them to parties and stuff. They were adorable. I love our officers.
It is important to be connected with your community. You have heard the term community policing. It is a dopey cliché right now. The reality is that community outreach and having that interaction with people where they feel they can communicate with you and you can do the things that I enjoy doing, cat adoption events, it is what makes a sheriff’s office or a police department or troopers, it is what makes their agency great. It does, and it really benefits the community.
Community outreach and genuine connection—where people feel comfortable engaging with you, whether through conversations or events like cat adoption days—are what make a sheriff’s office, police department, or state troopers truly exceptional. Share on XI want to ask what pets you have?
Right now I only have one. I have always had three dogs. My son, I mentioned him before, the air traffic controller, was working in Indianapolis, and he decided he was going to adopt a dog. He adopted. He went to the shelter, and I was very surprised that they gave him this dog. The dog had been returned twice. It was a pit mix. She had scars on her head. She was clearly a bait dog. He adopted her and then shortly thereafter.
Gary, I do not know what that is.
Dogs are used to train fighting dogs. What they do is generally they tape their snouts shut, and they let them go. The pit bulls and the dogs that are fighting will just use them as a sparring partner. It is a horrible form of abuse. You will see those dogs with bite marks all over them. It was terrible anyway. He adopted this dog. I am grateful that they gave him the dog because generally, a dog that gets returned twice, I believe, probably for aggression, is euthanized.
He took the dog, and then shortly thereafter, he was transferred to Miami, where he was going he could not take a pet. He said, “Dad, could you help us out here?” I had other dogs, and she just did not get along with them. The other ones passed away, and now I cannot really bring another dog to her. She is like a one-dog show. Even though I would love to have more dogs and birds and cats, I am letting her live her life the way.
Have you ever really had pet birds and cats together?
That would not work in my house.
It depends on the animal. You cannot, in some cases, with dogs and cats, I do not have to tell you. The expression, “They fight like cats and dogs.” The reality is that I have a lot of friends who have cats and dogs that literally snuggle with one another. It is wonderful.
Our way towards that, but it would be the cat and the bird. When we bought our house, our real estate agent, as a gift, gave us this gorgeous bird feeder. We had three cats at this time, and all I could think of was calling it the cat feeder. It was beautiful.
I have a bird feeder outside. It turns into a bird feeder, squirrel feeder, tom rat feeder, bunny feeder, and duck feeder. I have a little bit of a zoo in the back.
I have a question. Are there certain, and obviously we are not naming names, but when your department does make an arrest, are you happy that they go to a certain judge as opposed to other judges? Are certain judges more animal abuser punishing than others, or do they all go by the book?
Encouraging Trends In Judicial Punishment For Animal Cruelty
I suppose. It is hard to say. We are very lucky here in Lee County. State attorney Amira Fox has been super supportive of the sheriff’s zero-tolerance policy. When an arrest is made, they break their backs to prosecute these people. It’s very often that we are not satisfied with the disposition. Hopefully in time. We are seeing so many changes. It is really interesting. I saw this the other day. I am going to tell you about it. Do you guys know about the Ridgeline Farms beagles, Janet?
Yes.
Apparently, and I am holding this letter, an executive from Ridgeland Farms wrote to their congressman, Mark Pocan from Wisconsin, complaining about these protesters who are coming in. In his letter, I highlighted it. He wrote, “As your representative in Congress and as a member of the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus, a bipartisan group of lawmakers committed to raising awareness of animal welfare issues in Congress, the documented treatment of beagles on your property is alarming. I would also like to express concerns regarding the continued use of beagles for research purposes at Ridgeland Farms.”
Gary, I see something like this. I read that, yes.
This is amazing. There was an arrest and a conviction of a man in Georgia in February. His name was like Burrell. Anyway, to make a long story short, the first thing I thought of was the Michael Vick situation in 2007. In 2007, Michael Vick was convicted and sentenced to 23 months in prison, which we thought was fair. This guy was convicted of 93 counts of animal abuse, sentenced consecutively, not concurrently, to 475 years in prison. We like that very much. When you start to look at these types of things, your congresspeople and whatever.
Elected officials are starting to realize that constituents want, and our sheriff was elected because everyone loved his position on animal cruelty. These are the things that encourage me, and I start to feel like if we keep pushing and making noise and doing stuff like this, we are going to head in the right direction. Right now, pets are still property. One day, they will not be deemed as property, and they will have rights, and it will be a better world. We are definitely trending in the right direction.
Right now, pets are still considered property. One day, they won’t be treated as property—they will have rights, and it will be a better world. Share on XGary, what are you doing in retirement?
What is he not doing?
Therapeutic Benefits Of Animals (Horse Rescue/Animals & Kids)
There is a long list. You have to tell people about it because we can put these organizations up on the screen. I thought that I would retire and I would lie around and watch YouTube all day. I have been very flattered. I have been grabbed and approached by everyone. Between Crime Stoppers, which we should talk about, Crime Stoppers, but between Crime Stoppers and SAFE PAWS, and I am involved with a horse rescue, Animals and Kids, this is great. I will get to it. Let us talk about that first. I am from Brooklyn. I never even had a lawn. Forget about a horse.
I cannot see with a horse.
You can take horseback riding lessons in Central Park. They keep horses there. They are private.
I got introduced to this group through the Animal Cruelty Task Force, and I went out, and I decided to check it out. They have like 15 or 16 horses right now. I am now on their board. I cannot tell you why, but there is something almost mystical about horses. I have been around every animal there is. There is something about these horses that they are working with kids who are victims of human trafficking, who have been in foster care, who have had trauma. That is unbelievable.
They had one kid, a young boy who was fourteen years old in foster care, who would not come out of his room. He was completely nonverbal. He spent a month or two visiting once a week. He is now leading groups there. It is a 180-degree turnaround. He feels confident. There is just something about these horses. Obviously, they do not communicate with you the way a therapist does. They are not saying, “How long have you felt this way?”
You look into their eyes, and you just have this self-inflicted therapy. I cannot put my finger on it. I do not know enough about it, but it is just amazing. Now I go there, and I should measure my blood pressure because I think my blood pressure drops when I am just in the presence of these animals. They are just amazing. Whatever your religious beliefs are, God, nature, the universe, do you want to meet all of them? Look into the eyes of an animal, especially a horse. Look deep into those eyes, and you will see something you never saw before.
They are gentle giants. Janet and I grew up in the city of Cleveland. On a little postage stamp lot, we never were around horses. When I went to vet school, and I am a city girl, and you can see me coming, I am not a horse person. It really overtakes you. I know in vet school, when we would have to put a horse down, I always said the earth would shake because such a magnificent animal would go down. There are no words. Victory Gallop-my classmate’s wife runs something like that in Akron, Ohio. These autistic kids come in, and they dress the horses up for Halloween. They have Willie Nelson that they take down to the Children’s Hospital in a van.
He is a small horse.
He is a miniature. They take him through the floors to the hospital. These kids, as you said, are non-verbal, and they spend a few times there, and now they are in charge of the place. It is magical.
I still have asked so many people why this happens, and I cannot get an answer. I do not think anyone knows, and that is okay. It is magic.
In a good way.
The Importance Of Anonymous Reporting Via Crime Stoppers
Wait, so talk about yourself with Crime Stoppers, too? What do you do with Crime Stoppers?
Crime Stoppers. The importance of my mentioning Crime Stoppers ties into people reporting animal abuse because Crime Stoppers is the most amazing program. It is nationwide. You call in with a tip. The call goes through Canada, so your information cannot be subpoenaed. It gets directed to the law enforcement agency that is applicable. Our Crime Stoppers employees, who are employees of our Sheriff’s Office, will get a call from Crime Stoppers saying, “We have this tip.”
I really mean it is truly anonymous. Last year, across the United States, Crime Stoppers tips led to nearly 800,000 arrests that probably would not have occurred without these Crime Stoppers tips. On top of everything else, they give cash rewards. You will be given a number. You are A1234. You go to the bank. No ID, nothing. You walk up to the teller. “I am A1234, and here is an envelope filled with cash. Bye.”
We were here locally last year, we were responsible for I think 196 arrests in our five-county area. We gave out like $65,000 in rewards and closed 296 cases that were probably going cold. The reason that Crime Stoppers is important in the reporting of animal abuse is that very often, it is a neighbor who has information. Do you want to be the one to call the police, and the police are going to say, “Your neighbor, Gary, just called us and said you are abusing animals.”
Also, I do not want to get involved, and I do not want you to get involved or anybody else to get involved and go knocking on a door and say, “I suspect that you are abusing your animal,” because, as I mentioned before, a lot of these people are felons. They are drug dealers. They are violent. No. By using Crime Stoppers, you could go to the website CrimeStoppersUSA.org. Find your local Crime Stoppers location, and you could call.
If you are just suspicious, you do not have to be the judge and jury. This is what I think. This is what I feel. Of course, you are welcome to call law enforcement. If it is an emergency, I encourage people to call 911 if it is going to save a life, whether it is an animal’s life, a child’s life, or a spouse’s life. These things are really important. We had a dog. There are so many stories. We received a call from a woman.
I do not know if she was the perpetrator’s wife or girlfriend, but she was a victim of domestic violence. She decided she had to leave. She grabbed the kids, put them in the car, and she took off. What did this guy do? Their dog, she left the dog behind. He shot the dog in the snow. This was Louie. By the grace of God, it entered and exited without doing tremendous damage. He was on his backyard deck or the front yard deck. One of our deputies adopted Louie, and Louie is living the life of King Charles right now.
I remember that. This is really good for our audiences to know that Crime Stoppers is complete. I had no idea it was completely anonymous.
People always say, “No, you are going to have to tell.” We do not know, and we do not want to know, and we have never had the person’s name or ever released a person’s name. It is anonymous. You call, and you give what information you have, and if it leads to a conviction, there is a reward. I think they use a software program to determine the amount of the reward. We have been giving out very large rewards. We really are so grateful for these. Some of the homicides here that have just sat cold have been solved by Crime Stoppers tips. It really is amazing.
Janet and I, where I live now in Ohio, are two streets away from Jeffrey Dahmer’s. After they found out he killed people, there were a lot of animal bones buried around that house over on Bath Road.
You will see children who have killed cats who go on to become serial killers. I mean, there is so much documentation about the link. There is a newsletter called The Link, the National Link, or something along those lines. The link between this violence towards humans, elder abuse, child abuse, sexual abuse, domestic violence, and animal abuse is as intertwined as it can be. To ignore the animal abuse is a giant mistake.
The link between violence toward humans—elder abuse, child abuse, sexual abuse, domestic violence—and animal abuse is deeply intertwined. Ignoring animal abuse is a serious mistake. Share on XWarning Against Private Citizen Intervention In Abuse Cases
I have a question. Let us say I suspect that someone, I go to rescue the dog because I think the dog is being abused. As a private citizen, I am sure this changes legally, state, county, city, all that. How does that affect me if I were to go in and get the animal? You cannot.
I would tell you not to. You do not have the authority to do that. Again, as we discussed earlier, sometimes there are circumstances. Let law enforcement professionals go out, let them investigate it. Hopefully, they will thoroughly investigate it, and there will be a good outcome. If the dog needs to be taken into custody and brought to a shelter, then that is what will happen. If the person just needs assistance, and maybe it was a financial situation, we can help there. Let that law enforcement do it.
It is dangerous. Listen, some of them are just jerks. Some of these people are hardened criminals. I cannot tell you how many times we found the things that I mentioned earlier. You go in, and there is heroin, and there is fentanyl, and there is methamphetamine, and there is just everything. They are dealing it out of the house. By the way, they beat their dog. There was a dog.
The dog’s name was Seven. This guy in Lehigh Acres was just breeding this dog, and he was done with it. The dog had produced whatever number of litters, and he decided he was going to shoot the dog. The dog ran from him and jumped into a canal, and luckily, she shot the dog twice, literally just grazing the dog on both sides.
The dog was brought to Domestic Animal Services, where they did a wonderful job, and one of our local rescues took the dog, and they fostered the dog for the dog’s entire life. There are so many great stories, and there are so many sad stories. To go and find a dog deceased in a creek that somebody left the dog in a creek with no food, with no water, and out in the sun. You want to tie the person to a tree and leave them out in the sun.
Can I ask you, Gary, if you are in that situation and they do not have a license for the dog and they say, “It is not my dog, I do not know whose it is,” what can you do?
That is a problem. If you do not know whose, they will take the dog into custody. They will bring it to a shelter, and hopefully, the dog will get the veterinary care it needs and get adopted.
There is a lot of denial, like, “It is not mine, it is not mine.”
How sad.
It happens all the time. Denial is part of the criminal process.
I have got to ask the question, Alice. This is our guest’s question. What is your pet or human peeve? I hate it when they do not toast my bagel when I ask for it to be toasted. I can tell that is not true.
I tell you something, I am really easy. Not a lot of stuff bothers me. Animal stuff bothers me. Honestly, that is what bothers me the most. I see it because that is my mindset. I will look at a dog. I just think of how many homeless animals we have. We had a program that we did at the Sheriff’s Office called Mall Mutts. What we would do is, this was so cool. Local shelters would bring us like three dogs at a time with Adopt Me signs on them.
We would walk around the outlets outdoors. We would get them pup cups at Starbucks. I sent you guys a picture of two of the dogs eating from the Starbucks cup. We talked to people, and we tried to find homes for them. There is just so much good going on. It is rewarding when you know that all of a sudden, you hear, “Someone who saw the dog came in immediately.” They do not give you the dog there on the spot. They have to vet you and do it. You hear the next day, “So and so was adopted.”
Janet, one of the things when I went to Gary’s office, there are these big, tough guys, and they have got guns and everything. They are so sweet, like Lieutenant Hope and all the pets that are there. It is just lovely. We are a good group.
It really is the way it should be. There are a lot of good people out there. Unfortunately, the people who do the horrible things seem to get the headlines and appear all over social media. I have come to learn that, working with animal shelters and all these different agencies, some amazing people give so much of their own time. At Gulf Coast, I am a volunteer at the Gulf Coast Humane Society. I go there, and there are the same retirees there every single day.
They love it.
You work your whole life, and you think you want to just lie down at home and sit in the back and sip some champagne or wine and look out at the birds. These people are there morning, noon, and night. It just warms your heart.
You are right.
Silver Snout, where I am volunteering at the rescue, there is an elderly person who comes every day to just hold the little old dogs and pet them. It means not only to the dogs, but to this person. It gives them a sense of purpose. Gets them out of the house and gets them going.
It is like the horse story I told. There is really an effect that it has on you that is life-changing. It is life-altering. There is something about an animal. I have done social work for a good part of my life, and do not get me wrong. People are appreciative when you help them out by providing them with food. To me, the gratitude and the affection and the appreciation that you see from these animals.
Lieutenant Hope is the best example. Lieutenant Hope was six months old when she lost her leg. She had every right to be afraid of humans, to be traumatized. She had every right. Nobody would argue with it. This dog cannot thank you enough. She cannot appreciate you enough. The way she makes you feel as a person, helping her and loving her.
We can all learn from that, could we?
Maybe we can, and yeah, there is obviously so much wrong with this world, but if this world were kinder to animals, I think it would become a kinder, gentler place as a whole. It is heartbreaking, but we try. We do the best. Everyone here on this at this podcast tries to do their best.
If this world were kinder to animals, it would become a kinder, gentler place overall. Share on XCharity begins at home. Even if you just do a little bit in your own little neighborhood, you are doing something. You are doing more than it could have been.
The Power Of Non-Monetary Donations For Shelters
There are other things. Not everyone wants to own a pet, can own a pet, or can afford to own a pet. There are so many things that you can do. We collect shelter donations, not cash. I do not ask anyone for any cash. As a sheriff’s employee back in the day, I could not take cash. I would say, “Bring me cleaning supplies. Bring me towels and linens.” I have hotels that call me, “Gary, we have towels for you.”
I will go over there with my truck, and they will give me like 500 pounds of towels. The shelters go through them like water. They need cleaning supplies. They need office supplies. They need beds. They need leashes. They need collars and harnesses. Just live in a community, ask around in your community. “What do you have?” Everyone could hand you a dollar jar of bleach. I do not know if that is how much bleach is now.
Everything is high.
I mean things that you would take for granted. You bring them over to the shelter, and they are so grateful for it. Every dollar that you save them by giving them, let us say, disinfectant wipes or paper towels, that is money. That is real money because they would have to take those cash donations and turn them into paper towels, dishwashing liquid, brooms, and hoses.
We cannot thank you enough for your huge heart and the good work that you do. This has been so informative. Thank you so much.
You are one of my heroes, Gary. I do not want to gush, but you are.
I appreciate it. I am happy to do it. I hope I have the health and the stamina to keep doing it. I am going to do as much as I can until I cannot do any more.
We appreciate you. Thank you so much. Thanks for tuning in. Do not forget to give your pets an extra treat for us and give a big kiss. We love them all. Thanks for tuning in. Do not forget to share, like, and love. See you next time.
Important Links
- Gary Levine
- Gulf Coast Humane Society
- Crime Stoppers
- Animal Cruelty Task Force
- Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers
- Animals and Kids Rescue LLC
- CIVILIAN SUPPORT UNIT NEWLETTER WINTER 2025-2026
- Lee County Sheriff’s Office, FL on Facebook
- Exclusive: Ride-along with LCSO’s Animal Cruelty Task Force
About Officer Gary Levine
Gary Levine was the PIO (public information officer) for Lee County, Florida for 9 years. He was on the Lee County Sheriff’s Department Animal Cruelty Task Force, the SWFL Crime Stoppers Board, The Animals & Kids Board, Lee County Sheriff’s Office Civilian Support Unit and is starting along with The United Way, the SAFE PAWS Program which provides foster homes for victims of domestic violence.