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| Please help stop animal cruelty..................... |
This is another subject I am passionate about. Dogs, cats and other animals have become domesticated throughout the years and have become cherished members of our families. We are just as happy to see them when we walk through the door at night as they are to see us. Unconditional love, companionship, happiness, laughter are just a few things they provide to us. Yet many people out there view them as little more than a house alarm, leaving them tied up in a yard with no shade little food and little (if any) water. They are not viewed as family members or even pets by this group of people.
I don't know if Kelley's "target practice" on his dogs was ever reported or if he was convicted of any crime for that matter. In the state of Texas, here is what would have happened under their laws:
This may be the federal statue around animal cruelty - laws very state by state:
This may be the federal statue around animal cruelty - laws very state by state:
"Intentionally subjecting an animal to cruel neglect, mistreatment, or killing or harming a service animal is a Class 6 Felony punishable by a fine of up to $150,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 1.5 years. Sentences can also include community service, no animal ownership for 3 years, and restitution."
Texas http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/statutes/pe/pe0004200.html#pe012.42.09 Tex. Penal Code, Title 9, Chapter 42, 42.09
Cruelty to animals is defined as: “ (1) tortures an animal; (2) fails unreasonably to provide necessary food, care, or shelter for an animal in the person’s custody; (3) abandons unreasonably an animal in the person’s custody; (4) transports or confines an animal in a cruel manner; (5) kills, seriously injures, or administers poison to an animal, other than cattle, horses, sheep, swine, or goats, belonging to another without legal authority or the owner’s effective consent; (6) causes one animal to fight with another; (7) uses a live animal as a lure in dog race training or in dog coursing on a racetrack; (8) trips a horse; (9) injures an animal, other than cattle, horses, sheep, swine, or goats, belonging to another without legal authority or the owner’s effective consent; or (10) seriously overworks an animal.” Sections (2), (3), (4), (9), or (10) (provide necessary food, care, shelter; abandons; transports in a cruel manner; injures, or seriously overworks) are a Class A Misdemeanor with a fine up to $4000 and/or imprisonment up to 1 year. The third conviction of the above is a State Jail Felony, with a fine up to $10,000 and/or imprisonment from 180 days to 2 years. Sections (1), (5), (6), (7), or (8) (tortures; kills, seriously injures or poisons; animal fighting; uses as a lure; trips a horse) is a State Jail Felony with a fine up to $10,000 and/or imprisonment from 180 days to 2 years. A third conviction of the above is a Felony of the Third Degree with a fine up to $10,000 and/or imprisonment from 2 to 10 years. Exemptions are made for bona fide scientific research, protection of property or persons, fishing, hunting or trapping, wildlife control, and animal husbandry. If I'm interpreting this correctly, a person convicted three times of animal cruelty faces 180 days to 2 years in a state jail - not even prison. It's a felony with a fine up to $10,000 and imprisonment for anywhere from 2-10 years. The same penalties exist if a person is convicted three times for abuse including killing or seriously injures an animal.
The first time a person is convicted of animal cruelty is considered a Class A Misdemeanor! It appears it only becomes a felony after the third conviction. what sense does any of this make? The lawmakers have made the appropriate exceptions around "killing" around livestock and foods that we eat. I live in California and here are our laws:
California http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=pen&group=00001-01000&file=594-625c Cal Penal Code 596-597
Cruelty to animals is defined as “Maliciously and intentionally mains, mutilates, tortures, or wounds a living animal, or maliciously and intentionally kills an animal; or overdrives, overloads, drives when overloaded, overworks, tortures, torments, deprives of necessary sustenance, drink, or shelter, cruelly beats, mutilates, or cruelly kills any animal or causes or procures any animal to be so treated.” Animals shall be seized and impounded and ownership forfeited. These crimes may be charged as either a misdemeanor or felony, with punishment of a fine up to $20,000 and/or imprisonment up to 1 year. If a defendant is granted probation for a conviction, the defendant must pay for and successfully complete counseling as determined by the court. It is also a misdemeanor to “Carry or causes to be carried in or upon any vehicle or otherwise any domestic animal in a cruel or inhumane manner.” Exemptions are made for farming, hunting and research.
Cruelty to animals is defined as: “ (1) tortures an animal; (2) fails unreasonably to provide necessary food, care, or shelter for an animal in the person’s custody; (3) abandons unreasonably an animal in the person’s custody; (4) transports or confines an animal in a cruel manner; (5) kills, seriously injures, or administers poison to an animal, other than cattle, horses, sheep, swine, or goats, belonging to another without legal authority or the owner’s effective consent; (6) causes one animal to fight with another; (7) uses a live animal as a lure in dog race training or in dog coursing on a racetrack; (8) trips a horse; (9) injures an animal, other than cattle, horses, sheep, swine, or goats, belonging to another without legal authority or the owner’s effective consent; or (10) seriously overworks an animal.” Sections (2), (3), (4), (9), or (10) (provide necessary food, care, shelter; abandons; transports in a cruel manner; injures, or seriously overworks) are a Class A Misdemeanor with a fine up to $4000 and/or imprisonment up to 1 year. The third conviction of the above is a State Jail Felony, with a fine up to $10,000 and/or imprisonment from 180 days to 2 years. Sections (1), (5), (6), (7), or (8) (tortures; kills, seriously injures or poisons; animal fighting; uses as a lure; trips a horse) is a State Jail Felony with a fine up to $10,000 and/or imprisonment from 180 days to 2 years. A third conviction of the above is a Felony of the Third Degree with a fine up to $10,000 and/or imprisonment from 2 to 10 years. Exemptions are made for bona fide scientific research, protection of property or persons, fishing, hunting or trapping, wildlife control, and animal husbandry. If I'm interpreting this correctly, a person convicted three times of animal cruelty faces 180 days to 2 years in a state jail - not even prison. It's a felony with a fine up to $10,000 and imprisonment for anywhere from 2-10 years. The same penalties exist if a person is convicted three times for abuse including killing or seriously injures an animal.
The first time a person is convicted of animal cruelty is considered a Class A Misdemeanor! It appears it only becomes a felony after the third conviction. what sense does any of this make? The lawmakers have made the appropriate exceptions around "killing" around livestock and foods that we eat. I live in California and here are our laws:
California http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=pen&group=00001-01000&file=594-625c Cal Penal Code 596-597
Cruelty to animals is defined as “Maliciously and intentionally mains, mutilates, tortures, or wounds a living animal, or maliciously and intentionally kills an animal; or overdrives, overloads, drives when overloaded, overworks, tortures, torments, deprives of necessary sustenance, drink, or shelter, cruelly beats, mutilates, or cruelly kills any animal or causes or procures any animal to be so treated.” Animals shall be seized and impounded and ownership forfeited. These crimes may be charged as either a misdemeanor or felony, with punishment of a fine up to $20,000 and/or imprisonment up to 1 year. If a defendant is granted probation for a conviction, the defendant must pay for and successfully complete counseling as determined by the court. It is also a misdemeanor to “Carry or causes to be carried in or upon any vehicle or otherwise any domestic animal in a cruel or inhumane manner.” Exemptions are made for farming, hunting and research.
So in California, animal cruelty up to and including torture and death of an animal may be charged as a misdemeanor OR felony and the punishment may contain a fine of up to $20,00 0 and/or imprisonment for up to one year! I think this is outrageous.
who will work with me to strengthen these laws and up the punishment to be more appropriate with the crime? Something must be done, and now. Dog fighting rings are still in operation although they may have mostly gone underground ever since Michael Vick got busted and the ugly world of dog fighting was front page news. They are still out there.
If you've ever watched Animal Planet's "Pit Bulls and Parolees" you have seen the damage to the dogs, both physically and emotionally. Yet many of these does who should fear and dislike humans recover and learn to trust and love again. We need to protect animals from their human predators. I cannot imagine doing anything to harm an animal, unless it was a wild animal who was looking at me as their dinner. We need to make many of these "cruelty" behaviors and make them felonies on the first conviction. Torture, starvation, beating, leaving dogs in an inappropriate environment which could cause them great bodily harm (i.e. - chaining a dog to an item that provides no shade from the sun, leaving no water or food etc.)
If you've ever watched Animal Planet's "Pit Bulls and Parolees" you have seen the damage to the dogs, both physically and emotionally. Yet many of these does who should fear and dislike humans recover and learn to trust and love again. We need to protect animals from their human predators. I cannot imagine doing anything to harm an animal, unless it was a wild animal who was looking at me as their dinner. We need to make many of these "cruelty" behaviors and make them felonies on the first conviction. Torture, starvation, beating, leaving dogs in an inappropriate environment which could cause them great bodily harm (i.e. - chaining a dog to an item that provides no shade from the sun, leaving no water or food etc.)
Strict laws are needed for commercial animals and our beloved pets. Here, I am specifically speaking for our personal companion pets protection. Something happened here in the neighborhood I'm living in two summers ago. There was a bit of a stray cat problem - it was summertime, and that's usually when the feline population explodes. People were feeding them (not JUST me) and they were fairly shy because they were basically born feral and didn't trust many humans. We had two indoor/outdoor cats that both had collars, were fixed and micro chipped and vaccinated. I believed I was a responsible cat owner.
Sure, he only trapped ONE cat. The others must have simply followed his car to where ever he dumped them off. I've heard many versions of the story on where he took them and I'm not sure I believe any of them. He said that after he trapped a cat, he would drive them out to a secluded unpopulated area and let them loose. How did he expect a house cat to survive in that type of environment after being cared for it's entire life? I would call that animal cruelty. I was heartbroken, as were others whose cats disappeared that summer. The man responsible still lives a few houses down - I don't like him, but I won't disclose his name here. HE knows what he did. He told one person he dropped the cats off in a field near a Raley's market, he told others he took them to the Amtrak train station where there are fruit fields. Whatever he did, none of us were able to recover our loved ones. You would think one of them would end up in a shelter where the microchip would reunite them with us. He removed their collars, in an effort to ensure they were never coming back.
If they were going to the bathroom in their yard or gardens, all he had to do was ask us to keep our cats inside or out of his yard. I would've done my best to keep both cats away from his home. I'm stills sad about Patches and Jasper. However, I've found room in my heart to adopt two STRICTLY INDOOR cats. Maddy and Oscar don't seem to mind being in the house at all - and I rest assured they are safer inside than in the outside world. I'm only living here another few months. I'd love for my next place to have a screened in cat area outside for them, so they could safely enjoy the fresh air and see the birds.
I'm sure there are many petitions on Change.org around animal cruelty. I'm going to do some homework before I create a new one or find a good one to promote here. If you too are bothered by the lack of real consequences for animal cruelty, please check back here next week. How can torture be a misdemeanor in any state in America? Thank you for taking the time to read this. I'm not going to post any sad photos of abused animals on this blog. Instead, I'm posting a few cute pics to remind us all of what we are looking to protect.
Have a great weekend! PS - the dogs highlighted in this post were on various adoption websites and may still be available! I used PetFinder.
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