Tougher animal cruelty laws sought
All of us here at PT love all animals and are outraged at any incident of abuse. New Jersey Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May County, has introduced a bill, A- 2649, that revises my state's outdated animal cruelty laws. This bill has cleared the Assembly Committee but has not yet gone to the full Assembly or Senate. By the way, Assemblyman Van Drew is owned by two dogs!
I've read the bill and strongly support it. Some provisions of the bill define certain offenses of animal abuse, neglect, and cruelty as second, third, and fourth degree offenses as well as disorderly person offenses. A-2649 also stipulates punishment and/or fines for each degree of offense. With punishment clearly set for a specific offense, the courts will have little discretion in punishing offenders. It will all be in the statute when this bill (hopefully) is passed and enacted.
The bill requires animal control officers to take a training course on investigating and handling abuse and neglect cases. The State Agriculture Commissioner would be required to run a background check on all officers, any officer who has been charged with animal abuse or neglect will be discharged. The list must be updated annually and distributed to every ASPCA facility in New Jersey and appropriate action taken against any officer on that list.
Any person who organizes, promotes, actively participates in, or trains animals for fighting would be subject to pretty stiff fines. The animals would be forfeited by the owners who in addition to the fine would be financially responsible for veterinary care and shelter costs of caring for and treating these animals.
The pending bill would give the court the statutory authority to order a juvenile animal abuser into mandatory psychiatric care to be paid for by the parents or legal guardian for a length of time to be determined by the psychiatrist, psychologist, or licensed therapist. It also gives the court the option to order an adult animal abuser into psychiatric care at his own personal expense for a period of time determined by the psychiatrist, psychologist, or licensed therapist.
Another provision of the bill that I especially support regards animals that need to be removed from an owner due to abuse, neglect, and mistreatment. An animal control officer can decide to remove the abused pet as well as any and all other animals from the home if there is evidence of mistreatment of just one of the animals. This bill would give the court the statutory authority to prohibit the person from adopting another pet for a specific period of time or (all of you will love this one!) for the rest of the person's natural life!!!!!
Another very significant provision of this is the bill would add penalties for those who allow children to witness animal abuse and violence.
New Jersey's animal cruelty laws were established in 1880 and have not kept up with current cruelty cases such as dog fighting, cock fighting, and using animals to smuggle illegal drugs. Assemblyman Van Drew's intent in drafting this legislation is to revise, update, and expand New Jersey's archaic animal cruelty laws and stiffen penalties for violators. In the words of Assemblyman Van Drew, " This is a complete restructuring of the animal cruelty statute. When someone commits a crime against an animal and they go to municipal court, the penalties are not clear to the judge because there is a hodgepodge of laws. This sets new minimum penalties and creates new crimes." Assemblyman Van Drew goes on to say, " This law is so worthy. We're doing so many different things. It's actually a template for the country."
PT friends, I know this is rather long and for that I apologize. But this bill is something that must be shared and I believe it deserves our full support. Our precious pets as well as all the other animals suffering abuse, neglect, and mistreatment can't speak up for themselves. They have no choice but to count on us to speak up for them. WE CANNOT LET THEM DOWN!
Tougher animal cruelty laws sought
Hi again everyone! If you'd like to read A-2649 for yourself here's how
Go to State of New Jersey Homepage
Click on: Government (column on left side of screen)
Click on: Legislature (top box, state government)
Click on: Bills 2006-2007
Enter page # 254
Click on: A-2649
Scroll down to Reprint of substitute
Click pdf or html to get the full text
For New Jersey residents, you can also get your Assembly District & Assemblypersons in your district.
