Advanced Animal Cruelty Investigations: Identifying Aggravated Cases and Supporting Prosecution

Date: March 25th, 2026

Time: 10 am-2 pm

Cost: $25 – lunch included

This course provides animal control and humane officers with advanced instruction on recognizing indicators of aggravated or felony-level animal cruelty during investigations. Emphasis is placed on proper evidence collection, preservation, and documentation, as well as the preparation of comprehensive investigative reports to assist Assistant State’s Attorneys in determining appropriate criminal charges.

Presenters:

• Madeline Bernstein is the President of SPCA LA and a leading voice in animal welfare, ethics, and law enforcement. She also serves as president of the California Animal Welfare Association and advises on multiple legal and educational committees. An accomplished writer, Bernstein co-authored the law review article Time to Feed the Evidence and authored the book Designer Dogs, an Exposé. A frequent speaker and visiting professor, she is recognized for her advocacy with awards like the Boeing Crystal Vision Award. Before SPCA LA, she served as Deputy Inspector General for NYC Ports and Terminals and as an Assistant District Attorney in the Bronx. Bernstein holds a law degree from SUNY Buffalo.
• Gillian Deegan is the Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney in Botetourt County, VA, specializing in prosecuting animal cruelty and neglect cases. She serves as a resource for law enforcement and prosecutors nationwide and provides training on investigating and prosecuting animal cruelty. Deegan has worked as a Contract Attorney for the Animal Legal Defense Fund and taught in the Animal CSI Certificate Program. She has held leadership roles, including Vice President of the Virginia Animal Fighting Task Force and Board Member of the International Veterinary Forensic Sciences Association. A member of the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys’ Animal Cruelty Advisory Committee, she also advises the American Bloodhound Club and Virginia Bloodhound Search and Rescue Association. Her work has been recognized by organizations such as the National Animal Control Association and the U.S. Marshals Service.

Click HERE for Registration

For questions, please call 301-854-5037 or email

East Coast Animal Control Academy 

This comprehensive, two-week course provides you with in-depth, interactive training that will give you the skills to effectively perform your job in Animal Control. This training is endorsed by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and the Maryland Police and Correctional Training Commissions (MPCTC). Students must be currently employed by an animal shelter, the Humane Society or a local police department.

Each year one day of training is dedicated to equines that occurs at DEFHR and is led by our staff. This year will be May 14th.

Register Here

Equine Nutrition and Body Condition: A Practical Guide for Welfare Investigations

Date: Wednesday, June 17, 2026
Time: 10:00am - 2:00pm
Cost: $35.00 (lunch included)
Location: 1372 Woodbine Rd, Woodbine, MD 21797

This class provides animal welfare professionals with practical skills to assess a horse’s physical condition and evaluate the adequacy of its care. Through discussion and hands-on learning, participants will gain the foundational knowledge necessary to recognize nutritional concerns and management deficiencies that may contribute to declining body condition.

• Perform and practice body condition scoring to objectively assess a horse’s fat cover and overall physical condition.
• Identify key physical indicators that help determine whether a horse is maintaining appropriate body condition.
• Understand the fundamentals of equine nutrition, including forage-based diets and basic feeding requirements.
• Recognize quality hay and feed, and identify common signs of poor or inadequate forage.
• Understand how a horse’s nutritional and management needs change based on age, workload, health status, and environmental conditions.
• Identify common feeding and management deficiencies that can lead to weight loss or poor condition.
• Apply this knowledge during field investigations to better evaluate care, document observations, and recognize potential neglect-related factors.

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Questions can be directed to our office at .

Level 1: Professional Animal Cruelty Investigator - National Animal Cruelty Investigations School - University of Missouri Extension

Founded in 1990, the National Animal Cruelty Investigations School was the first of its kind, offering a combination of specialized veterinary and law enforcement training. Students from a range of backgrounds — including federal, state and local animal cruelty officers, humane society investigators and board members, police officers and sheriffs’ deputies, court personnel and other citizens — learn from experts about all aspects of animal welfare and safety.
The program has three different components (Professional-Advanced-Expert) that should be taken in order.
Registration preference will go to investigators with active investigations. Due to the nature of the business, topics discussed and videos shown during the schools will have graphic content and may not be suitable for everyone.
Continuing Education - Participants with a grade of 70% or more on the written examination will receive a certificate of completion and 40 continuing education units.

COST: $600.00 per person

Check payment can be made with the printable registration form.

Group discount and early bird registration discount cannot be combined.
Register 45 days in advance and receive 10% discount.
On the final payment page, enter the code in the Discount box and click Apply. Code: LETI-EB10%

Group Discount: Register three students at full price from one agency and all additional registrations receive 50% off full registration fee. Registrations must all be submitted together, and all registrants must attend to qualify.
Agency Discount: Any agency that mandates the National Animal Cruelty Investigations Training in their policies and procedures will receive a 20% discount. Contact (opens in new window)
573-882-6021 f or approval and discount code.

PetSmart Discount: A current employee with PetSmart can receive a discount on event registration. Contact (opens in new window)
573-882-6021 f or approval and discount code.

Professional Animal Cruelty Investigator curriculum includes:

Animal Law
Report Writing
Constitutional Law
Courtroom Preparation
Veterinarians and animal cruelty
Basic Nutrition
Basic Anatomy
Biosecurity and Zoonosis
Animal Handling and Behavior
Interviewing and Investigation
The professional investigator
Breed Identification
Basic Photography
Communications
Officer Safety & Survival

Register Here

Oxygen Mask First: Preventing Compassion Fatigue in Animal Welfare & Enforcement

Date: Wednesday, Oct. 21st
Time: 10:00am - 2:00pm
Cost: $35.00 - lunch included

This training explores compassion fatigue as an occupational hazard for helping professionals and reframes self-care as an ethical and clinical responsibility—not a luxury. Using the familiar airplane oxygen-mask metaphor, participants will examine why attending to their own emotional, physical, and cognitive well-being is essential to sustaining effective care for others.
Participants will learn to identify the early warning signs of compassion fatigue, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress, and understand how these conditions impact clinical judgment, boundaries, and overall effectiveness. The training will offer practical, realistic strategies for “putting your oxygen mask on first,” including boundary-setting, workload awareness, nervous system regulation, and values-based self-care that can be implemented in real-world settings.

This training is designed to be practical, reflective, and validating—acknowledging the demands of the work while empowering clinicians and helping professionals to remain present, effective, and sustainable in their roles.

Featuring Kim Morrill
Kim Morrill, LCSW-C, has been a practicing therapist since 1996 and a board-approved clinical supervisor since 1999. She currently serves as the CEO of Aspire Wellness Center, a large outpatient mental health practice comprised of 45 therapists and 12 medication management providers. Throughout her career, Kim has worked across a wide range of settings, including residential treatment, foster care, and school-based mental health services, giving her a deep and practical understanding of complex clinical systems and real-world challenges.

In addition to her professional roles, Kim is the proud parent of two “barely adult” daughters currently in college. Outside of work, she is a former rugby and lacrosse player and now channels that same competitive energy into conquering the pickleball courts.

Register Here

Questions can be directed to our office at .