The Putnam County SPCA has reported a 33 percent increase in animal welfare calls so far this year, with more than 800 complaints logged through its law enforcement dispatch.
The data portends an alarming trend. SPCA officials said 2025 was the busiest year in its 15-year history. Calls to the SPCA Law Enforcement Division rose 23 percent from 2023 to 2024 and then another 10 percent from 2024 to 2025.
In a recent case, SPCA officers responded to a complaint about three dogs left inside a foreclosed home on Eleanor Drive in Mahopac. Upon entering the residence, officers found three emaciated dachshunds confined to a dark, filthy basement.
In March, the agency also investigated reports of multiple mutilated birds found in Lake Carmel.
SPCA Chief Ken Ross described recent enforcement activity during warm weather.
“Once the weather started getting warm, we started patrolling the parking lots and were finding dogs in cars even though the outside temperature was in the mid-80s,” Ross told News 12.
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