Photo: CBS 12
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office has a new Animal Cruelty Unit and its already made some arrests.
Sheriff Ric Bradshaw says the new unit has been in development for several months and will focus on investigating reports of animal abuse, neglect, abandonment and other violations.
"We always have investigated animal abuse, but it's kind of been separated into the districts. And I saw the need to take people that have this expertise and make a unit out of it, so that's all they do."
He says the Unit works closely with the county's Animal Care and Control.
"Animal Control, they're great people. They work hard. But they're overwhelmed. But they have to have law enforcement with them, because they can't do a search warrant, they can't make an arrest. So why not have a unit that's dedicated and networks with them."
One person arrested by the unit is Jason Hershman, who owns canine daycare facility Wanderlust Dogs in Delray Beach. He's accused of punching a dog in his car, causing a the miniature poodle puppy to have a broken jaw.
"Not only have we arrested him and charged him, we're going after his license and shut that business down. Because we're not going to tolerate that."
Cosmo is recovering and was at Thursday's press conference.