According to the FBI, animal cruelty is defined as:
Intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly taking an action that mistreats or kills any animal without just cause, such as torturing, tormenting, mutilation, maiming, poisoning, or abandonment. Included are instances of duty to provide care, e.g., shelter, food, water, care if sick or injured, transporting or confining an animal in a manner likely to cause injury or death; causing an animal to fight with another; inflicting excessive or repeated unnecessary pain or suffering, e.g., uses objects to beat or injure an animal. This definition does not include proper maintenance of animals for show or sport; use of animals for food, lawful hunting, fishing or trapping.
On February 16, House Bills 4353 and 4355 passed the Senate Judiciary Committee and were unanimously approved to go to the Senate for a final vote. These are known as Logan's Law, after an 11-year-old Husky owned by Matt and Nancy Falk. On March 12, 2012, Logan was attacked with acid while in his own backyard. After months of care, Logan passed away due to his age and the toll that the attack took on him. Since then, his owners have been fighting to make Logan's Law a reality. This law would be a huge step forward for the protection of animals: It will create a registry of animal abusers.
If the law passes, any person charged with animal abuse would be required to be added to this registry. The list would then be available for animal shelters and other animal protection agencies to easily do background checks on adopters. With our current system, even if someone that was convicted is legally not able to own a pet, it is extremely difficult for animal agencies to obtain that kind of information. They may unknowingly adopt a pet to an abuser and put that pet in danger, instead of helping them. Logan's Law would not only make it easy to do background checks on potential adopters, but it would require animal agencies to not allow anyone on the list to adopt a pet for at least five years.
Just the fact that there is a registry may be enough of a deterrent for some abusers. It is similar to a sexual offenders registry, in that all of the offenders are listed permanently. No one wants to be permanently recorded as a criminal, especially when that list is accessible by the public. The threat of publicly being known for a crime can sometimes be what someone needs to keep them from doing something they will regret. However, for those that still think they can abuse animals and get away with it, Logan's Law will make sure that everyone is aware of their crimes.
Animal abuse has received much more publicity in the past five years than it has in the past. The FBI declared animal cruelty a federal crime against society in all 50 states recently. Those convicted of abuse have increasingly gotten more harsh sentences, but there is still a long way to go. We need to be doing more to keep our animals safe and punish those who choose to take advantage of them.
Logan's Law will not stop all animal abusers or end animal cruelty. However, it is a giant step forward, and one that is greatly needed today. It is still in the voting process. Senate Bills 219 and 220 still need to be voted on by the House of Representatives, and the Governor still needs to sign it. However, supporters are hopeful that it will pass and Michigan will have its own Animal Abuser Database.
