Animal Cruelty a FELONY?
May 16, 2008 by Rett Hatcher
Here is a snip of the article…
Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said Wednesday he plans to include an anti-animal cruelty bill in his proposed legislation for the 2009 regular legislative session.
“I think it should be a felony to torture a horse, cat or dog, or to torture any animal more than once,” McDaniel said at the annual Arkansas Society of Professional Journalists awards banquet.
Precise legal definitions will be vital to passing any anti-cruelty bill, McDaniel said, adding provisions on cruelty will exclude routine farm and food processing operations.
McDaniel made his plan known on the same day that a Northwest Arkansas legislator unveiled revised legislation that would make cruelty to dogs, cats and horses a felony in the state on first offense.
Sen. Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville, presented her proposal to a joint meeting of the House and Senate judiciary committees at the state Capital.
The attorney said he is developing his proposal independently of any legislative effort.
His proposal would make it a felony on first offense to torture or kill a dog, cat or horse. It would make a felony to kill or torture any type of pet on second offense.
Five states have passed such laws since Arkansas lawmakers rejected a proposal during the 2007 regular session, bringing the total to 45. Forty of them allow felony charges on the first offense, Madison told lawmakers earlier Wednesday.
Madison’s bill handily passed the Senate during the 2007 regular session but died in a House committee in the face of opposition to its felony first-offense provision.
“There’s support for this,” Madison told a lawmakers, noting the House passed a version last year that would make a first offense a misdemeanor and subsequent offenses within five years a felony.
Sue Madison says there is support for this? Where? Last I checked it got defeated in 2002 by a 62% to 38% margin. Thats 462,440 to 281,298 margin. Just because other states are legislating crappy bills doesn’t mean we have to. If the people defeat a bill on the ballot, don’t bring it up again until something has changed, like the will of the people. I’m calling it right now. If this bill is brought up again and you vote for it like it is currently written, prepare to have this used against you in your next race.
This is not a partisan issue, and you guys need to realize that. Madison’s bill is MUCH more narrow than what was proposed in 2002, and her bill is something everyone can get behind. And she is right, a lot has changed since 2002 and public support - bi-partisan public support - is behind this idea of felony animal cruelty. People who torture animals are bad people and deserve to go to jail. The only people who oppose it are the Farm Bureau and Cattlemen’s elite, and they do not represent the WILL OF THE PEOPLE. So don’t criticize until you know what you’re talking about.
There isn’t public support for this bill…A felony is a bad deal because you lose some rights once you’re a convicted felon…People shouldn’t be punished for shooting stray dogs or rabbits that eat out of their garden (my neighbor did this yesterday)…As a firm believer in Limited Gov’t, I don’t want the Gov’t minding my dadgum business anymore than is needed and whether or not I choose to kill a stray animal is my dadgum business and not the govt…Anybody that says otherwise is a big govt liberal…