Training the Environmental Military Police in the State of São Paulo for science-based assessment of animal mistreatment.

The aim of this study was to analyze the perception of police officers within the Environmental Military Police of the State of São Paulo about animal abuse occurrences and to implement the Protocol for Expert Report in Animal Welfare (PERAW) as guidance for the first approach to complaint cases related to animal mistreatment. 608 officers filled a pre-implementation questionnaire, followed by a training for PERAW use, and filled a post-implementation questionnaire after two months of Protocol use; these last two were accomplished by only 200 officers. Feeding and water inadequacies were quoted as the condition most easily identified as maltreatment.