House passes animal cruelty bill

Lawmakers across the nation are stepping up and speaking up in the fight against animal cruelty. The U.S. House of Representatives is taking steps to slap felony charges on anyone found guilty.

Humane Society of South Mississippi Development Manager Katie King said, “It’s a very serious matter and we couldn’t be in more support of it.”

“We are excited about this bill passing through the House.”

The PACT, or prevent animal cruelty and torture, Act is a bipartisan bill passed unanimously by the U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday.  Animal Control Supervisor Tony Alves said, “We know that when it gets to the Senate it’ll have some changes, but we are excited about the fact that we are going to have a felony statute for animal cruelty in the state of Mississippi.”

Under the act, a person can be prosecuted for crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating, and impaling animals and sexually exploiting them. Alves says this is a great first step, but it will be important to include all animals. “The way it is written is it only covers domesticated cats and dogs. One of the things we see here in Gulfport is equestrian abuse. We see abuse to guinea pigs and rodents, birds, and the law needs to make sure it covers that.’

King says this law passing could cut down on the amount of animal cruelty cases they see on a regular basis. “We’re in 100 percent support of this law. We couldn’t be happier once it gets passed and goes into effect just so our animal control officers in the community can put these tools into place and hopefully cut down on the amount of animal abuse cases that we see come into the shelter. We see several come in throughout the year.”

Offenders would face up to seven years in prison. “These pets don’t have a voice. So, we’re their voices. So, we have to be responsible and stand up for them.”