Share:
House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 6, 2022 03:13 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Jeanne McNeill |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Animal Cruelty: Restrictions on Ownership (Former HB459) |
| For many Pennsylvanians, the comfort and support found in their loving animals is immeasurable. Many animals live in wonderful homes with their humans, safe, sound, and loved. However, there are numerous animals that never get to experience what having a caring home is like. Between August 27, 2017, and December 31, 2021, there were 25,228 animal abuse offenses filed in Pennsylvania. [HJ1] This tragedy continues to unfold due to lax laws that allow convicted animal abusers to find more victims as soon as they finish serving their sentence. My legislation would close this loophole and protect animals by requiring all convicted abusers to be prohibited from owning, possessing, controlling, or working with animals for at least two years. It would also require abusers to participate in violence prevention counseling and, in the case of failure to attend counseling or trying to have an animal, the prohibition would be extended and further counseling would be required. There is no reason why any animal should have to go through unimaginable anguish and pain at the hands of someone who is supposed to take care of them. It is our duty as legislators to recognize that the time has come to better protect and serve all of our constituents, human or not. Please join me in co-sponsoring this important legislation to ensure that convicted animal abusers are no longer able to create more victims as soon as they finish their sentence. [HJ1]Libre’s Law, the anti-cruelty law (Act 10) that strengthened the protection of animals, went into effect in late August of 2017. Since then, over 25,000 animal abuse offenses have been filed statewide – 54 percent of which were for neglect of an animal. https://www.pacourts.us/news-and-statistics/news/news-detail/1078/how-prevalent-is-animal-abuse-in-pennsylvania |
Introduced as HB530