An increasing proportion of animal welfare violations in Finland are related to companion animals. However, only a small number of these issues are investigated or prosecuted. The aims of this study were (i) to describe the inspection findings and the resulting actions of the official municipal veterinarians in the Finnish Capital Region and (ii) to identify the factors that predict their submissions of investigation requests to the police. Our data consisted of animal welfare complaints and official veterinarians' inspection reports and decisions from 811 cases of animal welfare control in the Finnish Capital Region. The data covered the period from March 2019 to April 2020. We performed logistic regression analyses to identify the factors that best predict when official veterinarians detect non-compliances and report the cases for police investigation. In 86% (696/811) of the cases, the veterinarians performed at least one animal welfare inspection, and/or received information from the police, or otherwise investigated the complaint. The most common forms of non-compliance were lack of basic maintenance and care (42%, 295/696) and insufficient veterinary care (27%, 185/696). The veterinarians requested for a police investigation in 9.6% (44/460) of all cases with detected non-compliances. The best predictors for detecting non-compliances with the animal welfare legislation were complaints of insufficient veterinary care (OR 1.9, CI 1.1–3.4), the cases assessed by the information from the police and/or an animal shelter (OR 15.2, CI 7.9–29.2), at least one inspection in an animal's premises with prior warning (OR 11.2, CI 5.5–22.6), and without prior warning (OR 17.0, CI 9.7–29.5). Complaints of violence against animals were negatively associated with detecting non-compliances (OR 0.5, CI 0.3–0.9). However, the detection of violence against animals predicted requests for police investigations (OR 9.3, CI 3.1–27.9), as did the execution of permanent urgent measures by official veterinarians (OR 4.9, CI 1.9–12.9). To improve the animal welfare control system and the investigation of crimes against animals, cooperation between officials should be developed. Further studies are needed to improve the understanding of the prevalence of violence against animals, and to advance methods used by animal welfare control to identify cases of violence.

在芬兰，越来越多的违反动物福利的行为与伴侣动物有关。然而，这些问题中只有一小部分受到调查或起诉。本研究的目的是 (i) 描述芬兰首都地区官方市政兽医的检查结果和由此产生的行动，以及 (ii) 确定预测他们向警方提交调查请求的因素。我们的数据包括动物福利投诉和官方兽医的检查报告以及芬兰首都地区 811 起动物福利控制案例的决定。数据涵盖2019年3月至2020年4月期间。我们进行了逻辑回归分析，以确定最能预测官方兽医何时发现违规行为并报告案件以供警方调查的因素。在 86% (696/811) 的案例中，兽医至少进行了一次动物福利检查，和/或收到了警方的信息，或以其他方式调查了投诉。最常见的违规形式是缺乏基本的维护和护理（42%，295/696）和兽医护理不足（27%，185/696）。兽医要求警方对 9.6% (44/460) 发现违规的案件进行调查。检测不遵守动物福利立法的最佳预测因素是对兽医护理不足的投诉（OR 1.9，CI 1.1-3.4），根据警方和/或动物收容所（OR 15.2，CI 7.9-29.2）的信息评估的案件，在有事先警告（OR 11.2，CI 5.5-22.6）且没有事先警告的情况下至少对动物场所进行一次检查（或 17.0，CI 9.7–29.5）。针对动物的暴力投诉与发现违规行为呈负相关（OR 0.5，CI 0.3-0.9）。然而，发现对动物的暴力行为预示着需要警方调查（OR 9.3，CI 3.1-27.9），官方兽医执行永久性紧急措施也是如此（OR 4.9，CI 1.9-12.9）。完善动物福利管理体系和动物犯罪侦查，应加强官员间的合作。需要进一步研究以提高对暴力侵害动物行为普遍性的了解，