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Task force focused on helping animals of Harris County

Credit: Carter, Lisa
There's an easier way to report suspected animal cruelty in Houston and Harris County. A new task force will be in charge of following up.

From the driver’s seat in his white SUV, Charles Jantzen spends his days on the streets of Harris County helping save animals that can’t save themselves.

The roads take him from affluent neighborhoods to rural county roads that make it seem as if you’re in the middle of nowhere. Jantzen is a hard-nosed investigator with nearly two decades of experience in animal welfare, and he’s one of 10 investigators assigned to the Harris County Animal Cruelty Task Force, a conglomerate of local entities all concerned about the same cause: the well-being of animals.

Jantzen is an animal lover himself, fitting because how can you work a job helping animals without caring for the very things you’re working to save. Along with dogs and cats, Jantzen and his family own chickens and a pig.

Credit: Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Charles Jantzen has nearly two decades' experience investigating animal cruelty cases in Harris County. Today he serves as one of the investigators with the newly formed Harris County Animal Cruelty Task Force.

It’s not his animals he has to worry about. It’s the thousands of others throughout the 1,700 miles of Harris County suffering at the hands of owners who either aren’t aware the treatment of their pets falls on the wrong side of Texas’ animal cruelty laws or down right don’t care about the treatment of their animals.

“For me, I respect two things a lot: the law and the abilities of animals,” Jantzen said, who began investigating animal cruelty with non-profit groups in Harris County in 2000. “Acceptance of poor treatment of any species is not acceptable in this day and age.”

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Animal cruelty is spread throughout the vast landscape of Harris County and comes in many forms: a healthy-looking dog that doesn’t have proper shelter from the elements to a neglected horse that hasn’t eaten in weeks. Jantzen said in his experience cruelty “spans the entire spectrum of our society,” from teenagers to people in their 80s.

Because it’s an ongoing problem, various Harris County animal welfare groups partnered to form the task force in February. Among the members are the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, the Harris County Precinct 5 Constable’s Office, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, the Houston Police Department, Crime Stoppers of Houston, the Harris County Animal Shelter, the Houston Humane Society and BARC, Houston’s animal shelter.

“Everyone has their centralized role they focus on, and there’s no one entity of anybody in the task force that can pick up this ball and run with it efficiently,” Jantzen said. “That’s why we formulated the task force where we can all pull resource and work together where if we have a case, everyone fulfills a different role.”

Since its inception, the task force has received more than 700 tips of alleged animal abuse. (Tips can be made at 927Paws.org or calling 832-927-PAWS.)

Credit: Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Charles Jantzen, an investigator with the Harris County Animal Cruelty Task Force, visits 927Paws.org, the website where animal cruelty complaints can be made.

Investigators try to respond to those calls within 24 hours, said Corey Steele, the field operations manager for the Harris County Animal Shelter.

Not every tip results in cruelty charges. Investigators often work with animal owners to correct a problem and inform them why what they’re doing is wrong. If the owner corrects the problem, Steele said, case closed. If not, investigators work to remove the animals from the property and get them the care they need.

After 18 years as an investigator, Jantzen said he’s pleased at the progress made and the recent partnerships to help the animals of Harris County.

“We’re focusing on an issue that desperately needed some attention drawn to it,” he said. “Together we can solve this problem.”

Follow Matt Keyser on Twitter.

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