Activists: "Animal Cruelty Bill Undermines Current Law":

Feb 08, 2008 by Elizabeth Ziegler

(KCPW News) Animal rights activists say a bill progressing through the legislature will let animal abusers off too easy. The bill makes animal torture a felony, but only on the second offense.

"We really feel that having it on the second offense will be meaningless," says Utah Humane Society Director Gene Baierschmidt. "Having a law that you can't enforce the first time, is kind of like not having any law at all. It is kind of making a mockery of what we are trying to accomplish here."

Baierschmidt testified against the bill at the Senate Judiciary and Criminal Justice Committee meeting this morning. Several other animal welfare groups joined him in complaining that the bill undermines the strength of the current animal cruelty laws. Senator Allen Christensen, of North Ogden, says the bill brings animal cruelty charges in line with other criminal offenses. He says several serious crimes, including assaulting an officer, are misdemeanors on first offense, and felonies on the second.

"Many people do stupid, thoughtless, senseless things that they later regret," Christensen says. "This doesn't mean they're a lifetime offender. If it happened to involve an animal, yes they should be held accountable and punished. But should they become felons for that one-time thing? I think not."

Christensen's bill has the support of the Farm Bureau and other groups representing agriculture interests, who worry certain animal husbandry practices could be punishable as animal cruelty. It heads to the Senate for further debate. A link to Christensen's bill is available on our Web site, kcpw.org.

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