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This version of NSU News has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of NSU News, visit news.nova.edu.
This version of SharkBytes has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of SharkBytes, visit sharkbytes.nova.edu.
Original ‘Animal Cop’ to Speak at Law Center, Nov. 14
Sherry Schlueter, Wildlife Care Center
The Student Animal Legal Defense Fund is proud to present special guest Sherry Schlueter of the Wildlife Care Center, who will discuss the correlation between those that commit violence towards humans and animals and how this led her to develop a specialized unit for the protection of animals. The presentation will take place on Nov. 14 at 6:00 p.m. at the Shepard Broad Law Center.
Schlueter is a retired Broward “animal cop” police officer. As part of the presentation, she will share her personal experiences as a police officer/animal cop and what she is currently doing at the Wildlife Care Center.
As the original “animal cop,” she was a law enforcement professional for nearly 37 years before retiring from the Broward Sheriff’s Office to take a position with The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) in mid-2009. Schlueter entered law enforcement to protect animals from intentional human harm, and created the first animal cruelty-specific detective unit within a law enforcement agency. She initiated and helped author the original Florida felony animal cruelty bill that became state law in 1989. She later created the Special Victims and Family Crimes Section, which included specialized units investigating crimes of abuse, neglect and exploitation of vulnerable humans and all animals, as well as sex crimes, missing persons and domestic violence.
Schlueter continues to provide training nationally and internationally to professional law enforcement and civilian investigators, prosecutors, judges and legislators regarding such crimes, and on the disturbing and illuminating correlation between animal cruelty and human interpersonal violence. She has appeared before members of the U.S. Congress and the British Parliament on the societal impact of these matters, and has authored chapters for published textbooks. Presently, she serves as executive director of the South Florida Wildlife Center of The HSUS, based in Fort Lauderdale.