Need Legal Advice: Animal Cruelty

[migston]

I've been in the reefkeeping hobby for over a year now and my tank has been doing great up till recently.

To provide some background, my parents are going through a divorce and it is extremely messy. My father has gone almost insane as a result and has become very irrational. He sees me as a threat since I refuse to be intimidated by him and I take care of my little brother and the house that they're fighting over while my mother is out of the country on business. He's generally spineless so instead of taking his issues directly to me, he tries to find ways of making me angry without having to directly face me(stealing my things, typing up official looking letters in an attempt to scare me about legal matters)

Recently, he has begun to tamper with my tank. Whenever he thinks I'll be gone for a long time or asleep, he unplugs all of my equipment which includes my pumps, lights and heater. Luckily I've been able to catch this and restore power in time since my fish all seem none the worse for wear. However, my corals have declined drastically. I am unsure if there is a causal relationship between his malicious acts and my corals dying since they started declining before he started unplugging things. I wouldn't be surprised if he's dumped toxic materials into my water but I have no proof of this.

As of now, the equipment unplugging is a nuisance that I can handle. However I'm worried that he might take more drastic and deadly measures against my tank inhabitants.

Does anyone have some advice as to what i should do? is this something the police will handle or will they laugh at me? I did read about animal cruelty laws but am unsure if it applies to fish. Basically I just want to to know if there are any authorities out there that I can call to put a stop to his attacks on my reef.

[Steven Pro]

The first thing I would do is change the locks. Then call the police to file a report, but it doesn't sound like you have any direct evidence against him, so what they can do might be very limited.

[white_queen]

Set up a hidden camara or something, but yeah....definately at least call the police and get a file started. It might be the first step to getting him the help he needs!

Have you talked to him about it at all? Asked him to not mess with your tanks or fish?

[fkshiu]

I'll take an educated guess and assume that the laws in California are substantially similar to the ones we have here in Canada.

That being said, if the same were happening to me up here, I would approach the police in terms of a PROPERTY complaint. It's called "mischief" under our Criminal Code, but is commonly known as vandalism. If someone can be charged with this offence for smashing in a $50 window or spray-painting a bus stop, why can't someone be charged for killing off multi-hundred (or thousands) of dollars worth of fish and corals?

I'd gather evidence beforehand by, as has been suggested, setting up a hidden camera.

Going further out on a limb, once the process gets going, your father would have to be on bail pending trial. As part of the bail conditions, the prosecutor can most likely seek a no contact order with the "victim" (i.e. you).

But I'm getting a little ahead of myself here. Bottom line, law enforcement will probably be much more receptive to a property complaint versus an complaint involving a non-cute/cuddly animal.

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

have to set up camera to catch him if you want to do that.
it sounds unfortunately like a "please don't do it anymore" will not work-IMO
Sorry for your situation........you've handled it well so far, father or not there would have been physical violence done by me by now(but don't recommend)

[migston]

I found a site that spelled out the California Animal Cruelty Statutes and you're absolutely right fkshiu. It's listed as a mischievous misdemeanor. I printed out a copy and taped it to the wall next to my tank yesterday afternoon. In response, he took some empty Chinese takeout boxes and scattered them under my canopy top on my light fixture. Nothing got into the tank from what I can tell. This morning I checked the tank and he had not unplugged anything so maybe the Chinese takeout was his final attack on the tank.

I'm hoping that knowledge of the possible penalties (1 year in jail and or a $20,000 fine) were enough to force him to find some other way of harassing me.

Still I'm going to follow all your advice and get myself a hidden camera. Even if he does stop messing with my tank right now, I'm sure it'll come in handy due to the nature of our relationship.

E-A-G-L-E-S you're absolutely right. A simple "stop doing it" will not work. He is totally without reason at this point. We've never had the best of relationships but I could never have imagined him (or any other sane adult) acting the way he is now.

[dcoufal]

Originally posted by migston
I found a site that spelled out the California Animal Cruelty Statutes and you're absolutely right fkshiu. It's listed as a mischievous misdemeanor. I printed out a copy and taped it to the wall next to my tank yesterday afternoon. In response, he took some empty Chinese takeout boxes and scattered them under my canopy top on my light fixture.

It's nice when adults act as such mature and good examples for their children....

Dwain

[migston]

Originally posted by dcoufal
It's nice when adults act as such mature and good examples for their children....

Dwain

Well in a way i do learn from his example. Basically I try to imagine what he'd do in most situations and do the opposite. Thus far it's worked out great for me.

I ordered a webcam so that I'd have a live feed going to my computer at all times. I also have a screen capture program so one keystroke will create a video file whenever I see him tampering with the tank again.

I hope he stops doing it, but if he does then I'll be ready. Thanks all for your advice.

[dugg]

I would recommend at this point, you stop worrying about your tank, and start working on your relationship with your dad. No reef tank or coral or anything else you own for that matter is as important as your relationship with your parents. Life is too short. Sounds like to me you would do better trying to work on that and then the tank won't be an issue.

Just my thoughts.

[migston]

Originally posted by dugg
I would recommend at this point, you stop worrying about your tank, and start working on your relationship with your dad. No reef tank or coral or anything else you own for that matter is as important as your relationship with your parents. Life is too short. Sounds like to me you would do better trying to work on that and then the tank won't be an issue.

Just my thoughts.

I wish I could spell out all of the misdeeds that this man has done on my family but that would take much longer than a simple message board post. The cliff's notes version though is that all my life, he acted as a boarder and a stranger. He refused to help my mother pay the bills even when he was making money nor did he help raise us kids. He has cheated on my mother with at least 5 separate women. The last one being a 17 year old girl that he impregnated. My mother finally got sick of it and asked for a divorce last year. Now he is trying to get half of everything she owns because he basically squandered his own business years ago.

To me personally, he has threatened eviction, deportation (i'm an international student here in the US) and violence. He has stolen things from me, called the cops on me for no reason and he's even attacked me physically.

So when someone comes and advises me to repair my relationship with my father, my only response is that it is beyond salvage. I'm simply waiting out this divorce and looking forward to the day when he is out of my life.

In the meantime I'd like for my fish to not be murdered.

[dcoufal]

Originally posted by dugg
No reef tank or coral or anything else you own for that matter is as important as your relationship with your parents. Life is too short.

Sadly, some "parents" do little more than supply some genetic material..... If they show no desire to have a relationship with their children, it's often better for the children to not allow themselves to be hurt by trying to have a relationship with their parents.

Hopefully, one day those "parents" realize the error of their ways before it's too late. But, the damage that was done during the earliest years is very difficult to repair.

Dwain

[dugg]

Sad but true. Sorry to hear about your situation. I wish you and your family all the best.

[chrisp074]

Honestly, you need to get yourself, your siblings, and your stuff out of that house. The type of behavior your "father" is displaying will probably escalate as time goes on and he loses more control of the situation, and someone could end up hurt. As much as I appreciate your concern for your tank you need to think about your personal safety first. Good luck with this situation and please take care of yourself.

-Chris

[km133688]

Do you have relatives local that you can move in with?
Do you have friends with reef tanks to whom you can move yours temporarily?

Should you manage to get some kind of "nocontact" order, you should first investigate with a lawyer (there are free ones), as to where your little brother would end up. The courts might say that your father is not thread to your little brother, and since the order was to protect you, your little brother can go with your father. A worse situation based on what you say.

Good luck, Kevin

[xaoss]

Im going to have to agree with chrisp074... if the situation is that out of hand, in my opinion, your best option is to leave. I'm not even going to attempt a comparison, but Ive been thru some pretty serious **it in my life. Figure out priorities and go from there. Be willing to give up something important to you temporarily, in order to achieve what you truely want in the end. Best wishes to you and your loved ones.

[knowse]

Is your father still living in the house? You stated that your taking care of the house and little brother while mom is out of the country, and there is a custody battle going on. Why is he still in the house? If he isn't living there, change the locks. Document everything that he has been doing, call your mothers lawyer and discuss the situation with him, and ask him for help with a protection order for yourself and brother. This doesn't bode well, and I fear an escalation in voiolence is not too far off.

[93blackgt5.0]

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[93blackgt5.0]

I have an idea, move out. It seems to me as if you do not like him, nor respect him. Your not doing any one any good by staying, I am sure you bad mouth him and your little brother hears it. That does no one any good. I dont know the whole situation and do not claim to. From my experience there are at least three sides to every story. I just think it would be much easier if you, and maybe your little brother (since you take care of him), went to live with some family. How about your mother, when she gets back from her business trip? All the stuff; house and aquarium, can be replaced. It does not make sense to stay some place that might get to a "boiling point" where something bad might happen and someone, either you or your father, might end up in jail. I have seen it go both ways.

Eric

[wimplefish]

this is just my opinon but man your 24 years old
me honestly fight back knock the s*&t out of him belive me
my wifes dad tried to smack her in the face when she was 20 I slammed his face into a sliding glass window three times on his property cops came got me relised me once they talk to him his wife and my wife, all I got was 2 years probation and was filed for a mistamenor they classified it as self defense for another person who could not self defend.

or 2 plant drugs on him, or tell the 17 year old girls parents they charge him for sex affender thats 5 years let him become someones woman.

just do not let him push you around, I was raised to not take any bullS*&^
i know im gonna get flammed for this but i mean nothing else is gonna work you go to the cops there gonna be like yea so what you want us to do come get your dad for unpluging your tank cops dont care man.

[timmy_boy188]

kick his ***

Tim

[jman77]

1)17 year old girl. huh ..that's a minor ...have him arrested for statutory rape.

2)Get your mom to kick him out of the house, why is he still living with you ?

[eatgoodfood]

i would not reccomend physical confrontation

as to the 17yr old.. depends on the state, legal or not as i understand it, that would be a possibility, but best left alone

You should speak with your mothers divorce lawyer, and see what can be done. Does he have his name on the mortgage or no? in which case your mothers lawer might be able to get him out.. but i have a feeling no matter what happenss you are going to still have problems

It has been a while since you created the thread, what have you done? and how have things been going for you lately?


good luck, hang in there
Andrew

[Tasher80]

You seem pretty level headed and are going about things as right as you can. They have webcam capture programs that are actually triggered by motion as well. I don't know how they work but they use your own webcam without and extra hardware and when they sense motion they start capturing. Might be something to look into.

[RobP]

Purchase some theft powder. This is a powder so its hard to spot particularly on wall sockets and outlet plugs. I would sprinkel an ample amount on the plugs that you have plugged into the wall for your tank. The oil from a persons skin causes the powder to turn bright blue or purple and its near impossible to wash off. It usually has to wear off. So, unless he is sneaky enough to wear gloves you will have your proof and its much cheaper than a video camera setup.

[Barnacle_Blenny]

odd