- An rud a chíonn an leanbh is é a níonn an leanbh.
What the child sees the child does
- Lawmakers Consider an Animal Abuse Registry
By JESSE McKINLEY
Published: February 21, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO — California may soon place animal abusers on the same
level as sex offenders by listing them in an online registry,
complete with their home addresses and places of employment.
The proposal, made in a bill introduced Friday by the State Senate’s
majority leader, Dean Florez, would be the first of its kind in the
country and is just the latest law geared toward animal rights in a
state that has recently given new protections to chickens, pigs and
cattle.
Mr. Florez, a Democrat who is chairman of the Food and Agriculture
Committee, said the law would provide information for those who
“have animals and want to take care of them,” a broad contingent in
California, with its large farming interests and millions of pet
owners. Animal protection is also, he said, a rare bipartisan issue
in the state, which has suffered bitter partisan finger-pointing in
the wake of protracted budget woes.
“We have done well with these laws,” he said.
Last fall, California became the first state to outlaw so-called
tail-docking of dairy cows, where the tail is partly amputated to
ease milking. In 2008, voters in the state passed Proposition 2,
which gave hens, calves and pigs more room in their crates or cages.
That law has upset many in the California egg industry and prompted
some agriculturally-minded residents to even talk about seceding
from the state.
Under Mr. Florez’s bill, any person convicted of a felony involving
animal cruelty would have to register with the police and provide a
range of personal information and a current photograph. That
information would be posted online, along with information on the
person’s offense.
The bill was drafted with help from the Animal Legal Defense Fund,
an animal-protection group based in Cotati, Calif., north of San
Francisco. The group has promoted the registry not only as a way to
notify the public but also as a possible early warning system for
other crimes.
“We know there’s a link between those who abuse animals and those
who perform other forms of violence,” said Stephan Otto, the group’s
director of legislative affairs. “Presumably if we’re able to track
animal abusers and be able to know where they live, there will be
less opportunity where those vulnerable to them would be near them.”
In addition to sex offenders, California lists arsonists in an
online registry, and the animal abusers would be listed on a similar
site, Mr. Florez said. Such registries have raised privacy concerns
from some civil libertarians, but Joshua Marquis, a member of the
defense fund’s board and the district attorney in Clatsop County,
Ore., said the worries were unfounded.
“Does it turn that person into a pariah? No,” Mr. Marquis said. “But
it gives information to someone who might be considering hiring that
person for a job.”
He added: “I do not think for animal abusers it’s unreasonable
considering the risk they pose, much like the risk that people who
abuse children do.”
One supporter of the proposed law, Gillian Deegan, an assistant
commonwealth’s attorney in Botetourt County, Va., says such a
registry could also be valuable in tracking people who run puppy
mills and animal-fighting rings, as well as hoarders, who sometimes
collect hundreds of animals, often resulting in neglect.
“A lot of times these people will just pick up and move to another
jurisdiction or another state if they get caught,” said Ms. Deegan,
who has written on animal welfare laws. “It would definitely help on
those types of cases where people jump around.” One Web site —
Petabuse.com — already offers a type of online registry, with
listings of animal offenders and their crimes.
Such registries have been introduced in other states, but never
passed. In 2008, a similar bill in Tennessee stalled after passing
the State Senate.
That legislation was endorsed by the Humane Society of the United
States, said Wayne Pacelle, the president and chief executive of the
society.
Mr. Pacelle said that the proposed financing mechanism for the
California bill, a small tax on pet food, was “an extremely
controversial idea” and unpopular with the pet food industry.
Taxes are usually opposed by Republicans in California, and that
gives Mr. Pacelle doubts about the bill’s prospects.
“The idea of that succeeding in this climate in California is not
high,” he said.
But the bill’s sponsor, Mr. Florez, who recently helped establish an
Animal Protection Caucus, which includes Republican members of the
State Senate and Assembly, says he is confident that he has the
votes to move the measure forward and estimates that the registry
would cost less than $1 million to establish. He also said his
background — he hails from the farming-friendly Central Valley —
will help the cause.
“I think people think, well, if Dean is supporting it,” he said, “it
can’t be that off the wall.”
Source:
The New York Times, 21 February 2010