By Shereen Siewert
WAUSAU PILOT AND REVIEW
Police and prosecutors could have more leeway in pursuing people accused of harming animals, if lawmakers succeed in passing a bill that would make animal cruelty a felony at the federal level.
The law, known as Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture, or PACT, would threaten offenders who harm animals by means of burning, drowning, or impaling with up to seven years in prison. The proposed law also targets people who engage in acts of bestiality.
The only existing federal legislation regarding animal abuse stems from a 2010 law prohibiting the production of videos featuring animals being abused for the titillation of viewers. Yet, while that law targeted animal abuse videos, it didn’t make the actual act of abuse a federal crime.
This is the second time PACT has been brought to the U.S. Senate. The bill gained some momentum in earlier sessions before being waylaid by former House Judiciary Chairman Bob Gooodlatte, who blocked the proposal from coming to the floor of the House of Representatives for reasons he did not disclose. Goodlatte has since left Congress, renewing hopes by animal activists for the proposal’s chances.
Officials from the Humane Society of the United States say they feel more confident this year’s bill will pass the House now with Democrats in charge.
“The U.S. Senate has unanimously passed the ‘PACT Act’ twice before, and it earned 284 bipartisan House co-sponsors and over 200 law enforcement endorsements in the 115th Congress,” the organization said, in a prepared statementw. “With a new Judiciary committee chairman, Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., chances that the bill will finally become law this year are much brighter.”
The organization is urging supporters to contact legislators to help pass the legislation.
The bill, spearheaded by two Florida lawmakers, would not apply to hunting, veterinary care, of those protecting life or property from animals.
Animal abuse is a felony in more than a dozen states, while the rest of states consider the offense a misdemeanor. In 2016, the FBI began tracking animal abuses cases as a Class A Felony, putting it in the same records category as arson and homicide. But in most jurisdictions, animal cruelty is most commonly charged as a misdemeanor offense.
In Wisconsin, animal mistreatment cases are typically charged as felonies in cases of “intentional violation that results in the mutilation, disfigurement or death of an animal,” according to state statutes. The state charge carries a maximum penalty of two years and up to $10,000 in fines. Other neglect cases are charged out as misdemeanors.
