Veterinary - AWS Complaint Submission

Complaints are limited to the N.C. Animal Welfare Act and its associated regulations, which is the extent of the jurisdiction of Animal Welfare Section.

To file a complaint concerning a licensed/registered facility:

Please Provide:

  1. The name and address of facility.
  2. Your name and contact information including phone number and/or email address (for timely response).
  3. Details pertinent to the complaint.
  4. Dates on which the incident occurred.
  5. Documents which are relevant to the complaint.

Please Note:

  • All complaints must be firsthand information. If you are concerned about information you heard second hand but did not witness, please advise whomever witnessed the situation firsthand to submit the complaint.
  • Social media does not necessarily monitor its posts for accuracy or integrity and AWS does not have the resources to investigate all animal welfare-related posts.
  • We do not take anonymous complaints. We cannot guarantee that anyone who submits a complaint will remain anonymous. While we do not voluntarily disseminate the names of those that file a complaint, most correspondence to AWS is subject to public records requests with which we are required by statute to comply.
  • Photos and or videos submitted must have been taken by the complainant and the complainant must verify the authenticity. If the photo/video was not taken by the complainant, then the complainant must have ownership of the photo/video and supply the name and contact information for the person who took the photo/video. All photo/video must have been obtained legally.
  • Please do not send links we may not be able to open use a screenshot instead.
  • All complaints must be in writing.
  • AWS is subject to North Carolina Public Records Statutes. Therefore, anything obtained by AWS may be disclosed to third parties.

To file a complaint for an unlicensed facility:

  1. Provide the name and address of the facility.
  2. Details pertinent to the complaint.
  3. Please do not email links we may not be able to open them. Send Screenshots of any advertisement or pricing. We do not have access to Nextdoor either.

You may submit all complaints to AWS three ways:

Mail:

Animal Welfare Section
1030 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699

Email: agr.aws@ncagr.gov

Fax: (919)-733-6431