Even so, were I in your situation, I’d be just a little afraid that, if I gave the dog anything, and it later got sick or died, I could be sued by its owner, and I’d have to prove that what I gave it didn’t do any harm.
Detective work on the ground at the place the payphone was used might turn up the identity of the caller.
If someone parked nearby noticed you, or you parked at a business that had your parking spot under surveillance, or were across the street from a bank and just HAPPENNED to be in the ATM camera’s shot…
It’s a long shot, but if I were, for instance, on the FBI’s poop list, I wouldn’t want to take the chances unless I had a good reason.
I find it difficult to imagine that any humane society would either care or (more importantly) have the spare cash in the budget to pay for detective work. Every animal protection organization I ever heard of is perennially short of cash.
The only laws here are trespassing and animal cruelty. You’ve dealt with the trespassing issue so it comes down to animal cruelty. If you feed the dog and it dies from your actions, it is ** possible ** that you could be charged with animal cruelty. I get the feeling that none of this esoteric stuff really matters to you. I think you simply need to focus on yourself. You see a dog that needs help, so what are you going to do about it? Anything you do involves risk. It’s risky to get out of bed in the morning and it’s risky to stay in bed all day. Risk is part of life. How is helping the dog going to make you feel about yourself? How is not helping the dog going to make you feel about yourself? I think the legal issues here are trivial compared to the moral issues. Help the dog in the way that makes you the most comfortable. I think all the options have been explored here; now it’s time to make a choice.
If it’s a Law & Order episode they’ll dust the coins for prints and God help you if you’re already in the system!
I watched a mock trial re-enactment of this exact issue in my kids class when they took a field trip to the Washington state capitol.
There was a case in the early 1900’s in Washington state where a horse in poor condition what taken by the neighbor, nursed back to health and then returned. The owner sued and lost.
So in Washington state, it’s ok.
I used to work in the field a lot. I’d carry some high quality dog biscuits. I’d tell the owner how much I loved dogs and ask if they’d mind if I threw the dog a dog-biscuit. Few said no. I’d have no problem at all with filling the water dish.
The sceanrios where some of you dudes think that for a case like this they’d try and “CSI” your calls from a payphone are laughable. Hell, they don’t even spend those kind of resources on some murder cases.
Yes. I suspect that there is no jurisdiction where it isn’t illegal to mistreat animals.
If you are going to phone the ASPCA let them know if you gave the dog water or food. If they come out and his dish is full the owner can say that he “found the dog like that and is nursing it back to health”.
Anyway, please call the ASPCA, if not email me the info and I will. I am very disturbed that this animal is suffering and no one has done anything.
DNA, Fingerprints, and I have a long history of…
Law & Order References aside, once the property is surveyed, our bill gets paid, and then the client gets a visit from the SPCA, Sherrif or Animal control? The clients are not totally stupid, they would conclued that one of the surveyors or me, tipped off the authorities. Its common sense.
So what?
It has been three weeks or so since I made this post. As it turns out, the dog was a fighting dog that had been rescued from its previous owner. Its new owner was taking care of the dog, and feeding it three times a day. I would hate to see the dog in the state that it was before we surveyed the property. Today though the dog is much healthier looking, but still thin. I carry extra water around with me when I go to the field. If I ever see this sort of thing again, I will buy a can of dog food, and feed the dog.
Thanks for that update! A lot of the time we hear about messed up situations, we never hear the outcome; this time, we heard a (mostly) happy story!
I despair of a country in which the OP would ever come to mind at all (just feed the animal!) and in which this answer (essentially, don’t get involved) could be given. Somewhere the legal system has gone off the rails.