Amid plans to expand its law enforcement department, the MSPCA is sharing the impact its officers had on animals across Massachusetts last year.
In 2025, just under 17,000 animals were impacted by MSPCA Law Enforcement interventions, the animal welfare non-profit said in a Monday press release. Nearly 850 of those animals were seized or surrendered.
“Those animals were removed from situations where their wellbeing was in jeopardy and brought to our facilities where they got any medical or other care they needed, not to mention love and attention,” MSPCA Law Enforcement Director Chris Schindler said in the release. “Obviously it’s a huge number that strains our resources, but we’re always going to do everything possible to secure the best outcomes we can for animals in need.”
MSPCA Law Enforcement also fielded 2,334 calls reporting violence against animals and inhumane conditions, resulting in 714 new complaints that were investigated by officers, the MSPCA said. The department filed animal cruelty charges in connection with more than two dozen of the complaints.
MSPCA Law Enforcement was formed in 1868 — a few years before Massachusetts had even enacted its first animal cruelty laws, according to the non-profit. The department is commissioned as a special state police force to enforce Massachusetts’ animal cruelty laws, but isn’t taxpayer-funded. Its full-time officers are certified by the state’s police oversight commission and attend a state-sponsored police academy.
In recent years, MSPCA Law Enforcement has expanded its use of non-punitive animal welfare interventions. In 2025, the department provided assistance and resources to help improve conditions for animals and their owners in more than 400 cases, the MSPCA said.
“We’ve had uniformed officers working to keep animals in Massachusetts safe for more than a century, but a couple of years ago, we reexamined our Law Enforcement program in the hopes of making it more reflective of modern reality,” Schindler said.
“As part of that shift, we’ve added resources to give officers the ability to deploy a variety of tools to help people and their pets stay together in situations in which that’s appropriate, while reserving enforcement actions like seizures and animal cruelty charges for cases where no other intervention would be possible.”
The MSPCA plans to grow its law enforcement department this year to help cover regions such as Western Massachusetts and Greater Boston, the non-profit said. The expansion was made possible by grants and donations.
The MSPCA asks that those who would like to support the work of its law enforcement department donate online at mspca.org/justice.
