Delaware SPCA Humane Law Enforcement Division

Historically, humane law-enforcement functions in Delaware were associated with nonprofit SPCA models, but the State of Delaware created the Office of Animal Welfare and launched Delaware Animal Services on September 16, 2015 to assume centralized animal control and cruelty enforcement as county contracts expired. Delaware Code assigns primary animal-cruelty enforcement (with defined agricultural exceptions) to the Office of Animal Welfare, whose trained animal welfare officers investigate and enforce dog control, cruelty, and related laws statewide. The Delaware SPCA remains a nonprofit shelter/animal-welfare organization; this directory entry’s prior “Humane Law Enforcement Division” role as a primary statewide enforcement agency is treated as superseded by Delaware Animal Services.