PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — We're diving deeper into animal cruelty cases in Palm Beach County.
WPTV reported about an arrest that was made this week after Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control (PBCACC) said a dog named Abel in Boca Raton had to be taken to the vet for neck wounds due to neglect of its pet sitter.
WATCH BELOW: Capt. Damon Nunn tells WPTV the animal cruelty cases the county has investigated
Palm Beach County pet sitter Jennifer Meeks was jailed. She has since been released from custody after posting bail.
"It's such a horrible thing to do to an animal," said animal rights activist Debbie Darino.
Darino is behind two bills on their way to legislative committees in Tallahassee to protect animals from abuse.
One is called House Bill 455, which is a database of animal cruelty violators.
It proposes for law enforcement to post the database on its website, which contains the names of those individuals who have been convicted of, or who have entered a plea of guilty to the crime.
"You can look them up and see are they in there, have they committed animal cruelty to any animal," said Darino. "You don't want to use them as a sitter or any matter."
Region S Palm Beach County
'Inappropriate use of dog prong collar': Woman accused of animal cruelty
A tool, Darino said, will help pet owners get more information on prospective pet sitters, as well as help animal rescues vet who they adopt their animals to.
"This is just one more step in protecting the animals," said Darino.
Darino is also behind House Bill 225, also known as Dexter's Law.
It's named after a dog that was adopted from a shelter in Pinellas County. Days later Dexter's body was found decapitated, cut up and stuffed in a plastic bag.
"People just keep getting worse and worse with their crimes against animals," said Darino.
The bill would classify animals that have been abused as victims, which could put offenders in jail quicker by providing criminal punishment scoring for offenses.
"It increases the points that would go with that crime which gets you a little closer to prison," said Darino.
Both bills are set to go before the legislative committees in Tallahassee when the session begins in March, in which the bills could later become law.
WATCH BELOW: WPTV reporter Joel Lopez speaks to dog's owner about animal cruelty case
"You never know who you're giving your animal to, so you need to do the background," said Capt. Damon Nunn with Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control (PBACC).
The agency has seen issues with animal cruelty due to a rise in home-based businesses cited for being unlicensed with no permit, which includes pet sitting and walking.
"A lot of people get into the services thinking it's a quick fix, a quick way to make a buck, a dollar and they scoot around the requirements of the legal binding that you need to have a permit, you need to be certified in certain areas, you need to have certain things, especially if you're performing inside your home," said Nunn. "You need to have a business tax receipt, you need to be permitted through planning and zoning, there's a lot that goes into it that sometimes people don't have."
Nunn said of the pet sitter cases they investigate, 90% were operating without a license.
PBACC reports that home-based businesses cited for being unlicensed with no permit, which includes pet sitting and walking, had 25 cases that resulted in citations back in 2023.
In 2024, they had 27 cases that resulted in citations, including Meeks' case, which they said was the most recent.
