Bill Proposed In Arkansas to Make the Cruel Treatment of Dogs and Cats a Felony Defeated In a House Committee

Not a good ending. Nuff said.

Article:

Animal cruelty bill defeated in committee
http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2007/03/27/News/341455.html

Tuesday, Mar 27, 2007

By John LyonArkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - A bill to make cruel treatment of dogs and cats a felony was defeated in a House committee Monday.
Senate Bill 777 by Sen. Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville, failed in a 5-8 vote in the House Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development. Under the bill, aggravated cruelty to dogs and cats would be a Class D felony punishable by up to six years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
The bill originally included cruelty to horses, but it was amended Monday to remove any reference to horses. Rep. Pam Adcock, D-Little Rock, who presented the bill to the committee, said the amendment resulted from a compromise with the Arkansas Cattlemen's Association.
The measure passed last week in the Senate in a 21-5 vote, after receiving the endorsement of the Senate Judiciary Committee. In the House, however, the bill was referred to the Agriculture Committee, which some supporters believed sealed its fate.
Adcock said she was "extremely disappointed" by the vote but was not surprised by the opposition the bill faced in the committee.
"I thought that ... whenever they actually heard the truth, that it would change their minds, and it didn't," she said.
Adcock said she did not plan to present the bill again.
During the presentation of the bill, committee members viewed several photos showing the results of animal abuse, including aerial photos of the property of a Baxter County couple found guilty of 20 counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty after authorities found more than 500 neglected dogs in their possession. Several of the animals had been displaced from their homes in other states by Hurricane Katrina.
Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery said the couple absconded after being sentenced and are still at large.
"If they're found outside the state, I can't go get them" because the offense is only a misdemeanor, Montgomery said.
Adcock said the bill includes a provision to require a psychiatric or psychological evaluation and, if appropriate, counseling for any person convicted of the offense. People who are cruel to animals often are abusive to people as well, she said.
Rodney Baker of the Arkansas Farm Bureau testified that the Farm Bureau opposes SB 777 but supports House Bill 2788 by Rep. Rick Saunders, D-Hot Springs. Saunders' bill would make aggravated cruelty to a dog, cat or horse a Class A misdemeanor on first offense and a Class D felony on any subsequent offense occurring within five years of a previous aggravated cruelty offense.
Baker said the Senate bill is too broadly worded. As an example, he said that under the bill a person who loses his temper while training a dog and hits the animal could be charged with aggravated cruelty if a juvenile is present at the time.
Several committee members gave other hypothetical examples of actions they feared might be prohibited under the bill, such as the branding of hunting dogs or the shooting of feral cats.
Fayetteville lawyer Eva Madison said the bill applies to people who knowingly hurt or kill cats or dogs "in an especially depraved manner" and would not apply to any of the actions the committee members described.
Voting for the bill were Reps. Sandra Prater, D-Jacksonville; Gregg Reep, D-Warren; Lindsley Smith, D-Fayetteville; Robbie Wills, D-Conway; and John Lowery, D-El Dorado.
Voting against the bill were Reps. James Norton, R-Harrison; Stan Berry, R-Dover; Lenville Evans, D-Lonoke; Scott Sullivan, D-De Queen; Roy Ragland, R-Marshall; Eddie Cooper, D-Melbourne; Monty Davenport, D-Yelleville; and Bill Sample, R-Hot Springs.
Saunders' animal cruelty bill passed in the House last week in a 57-26 vote. It has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Arkansas Looks To Make the Cruel Treatment of Dogs, Cats and Horses A Felony

Very positive to see this occurring in Arkansas. We’ll keep you all up to date on this bill.

Article:

Animal Cruelty Legislation Clears Senate Committee

http://www.swtimes.com/articles/2007/03/15/
week_in_review/news/thursday/news03.txt

Thursday, March 15, 2007 10:31 AM CDT
By Doug Thompson

Arkansas News Bureau

dthompson@arkansasnews.com

LITTLE ROCK — Cruel treatment of dogs, cats and horses would become a felony under a bill recommended by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

The committee also recommended a much-debated bill on expanding drug courts that retained a provision for an oversight committee that judges oppose.

Senate Bill 777 by Sen. Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville, “very, very narrowly focuses on only the most extreme forms of cruelty to animals and only on dogs, cats and horses,” Madison told the committee.
Previous animal cruelty bills

have floundered because of concerns they could be misused by activists to disrupt livestock, poultry and other animal agriculture.

“We don’t want anything limiting agriculture in the bill,” Madison said. “It is restricted to torture, to purposely prolonging pain, to killing for pleasure and for neglect. It also prohibits cruelty in front of a child. Often abusers will tell a child, ‘If you tell, this is what will happen’” and commit cruelties on an animal, she said.

Exemptions are also included to allow veterinary practices.

Violation of the provisions of the bill would be a Class D felony, punishable by up to six years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

The Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation, the largest voluntary association of rural residents in the state, would support the bill if the felony charge only applied to the second and subsequent offenses, spokesman Rodney Baker said.

The qualified support is a major change from the organization’s previous opposition to any law restricting owners’ use of their animals, he told the committee.

He said the penalty provision could be misused to harass animal owners or punish a one-time fit of anger with up to six years in prison, he said.

Madison said that she considered the change but rejected it.

“We’re not convinced that somebody needs a second chance to skin a cat,” she told the committee.

Tubby Smith, director of the Arkansas Cattlemen’s Association, said the organization opposes the bill because it includes horses, setting a precedent for treating horses differently from other livestock.

Juveniles would be charged as juveniles and not be subject to sentences that would last beyond the offender’s 18th birthday, Madison told the committee.

Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery testified for the bill, saying that authorities in his county made arrests at a kennel with 500 dogs that were kept “in the most unbelievably deplorable conditions imaginable, and all we could charge the owners with was a Class A misdemeanor.”

SB 777 was recommended in a voice vote.

In the drug court bill, Senate Bill 18 by Sen. Bill Pritchard, R-Elkins, was recommended in a 5-2 vote of the eight-member committee. The bill retained a provision that would create an oversight committee including lawmakers, which raised concerns among judges over constitutional separation of powers.

Judges also object to language that could allow juvenile drug courts to get money under the bill. The bill would expand the drug court system and set standard drug court procedures.