Las Vegas clinic to help police with animal abuse cases

A Las Vegas animal clinic has contracted with Clark County to provide forensic services in animal abuse and neglect investigations.

Hearts Alive Village, 3250 N. Decatur Blvd., said in a press release Friday that it will start March 1. The nonprofit clinic will help the Metropolitan Police Department and the North Las Vegas Police Department.

“Law enforcement — they’re incredible partners of ours,” said Dr. Ken Sieranski, a forensic veterinarian and chief operating officer of Hearts Alive Village.

Clark County has 10 to 12 animal cruelty cases a month, according to Christy Stevens, the nonprofit’s founder and executive director.

“Clark County reached out to us, and immediately we started renovating the room and getting all the supplies and all of our protocols in order,” Sieranski said. “It was just so important to us to be able to provide that service.”

Prior to joining Hearts Alive Village, Sieranski was a forensic veterinarian for Miami-Dade County in Florida for more than four years.

“Instead of documenting a cruelty case with just reading a few notes on a piece of paper, by the time I left there were 20-page reports,” Sieranski said. “The reports had high quality photographs, CT scans and really advanced diagnostics.”

Terms of the contract with the county, which will partially pay for the forensic services, were not disclosed. The nonprofit will continue to rely on donations.

“We do need the community to know that it is something really important to invest in,” Stevens said.

Contact Jimmy Romo at jromo@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jimi_writes on Twitter.