Do you support Stricter Animal Cruelty laws? If so how strict?

[Kurska]

21 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Yes, lower the threshold for felony animal cruelty so more people who abuse animals face serious jail time.
	20 (95%)
	Yes, but instead create stricter misdemeanors that will put people away for months.
	0 (0%)
	No, but the current laws should be enforced more vigorously
	0 (0%)
	No, the current laws are fine.
	0 (0%)
	No, there shouldn't be animal cruelty laws.
	1 (5%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[840high]

1. Yes. No doubt in my mind.

[Kurska]

2. Love the name

And the stance

X2, I get it.

[yeoman6987]

27. The prison sector loves this

More prisoners equal more money. I would rather the pay 1/2 salary for a number of years depending on crime to an animal organization. A lot more positives in my proposals I believe.

[leftofcool]

3. Anyone who deliberately abuses an animal should spend some time in jail

I am not talking about an accident caused by your vehicle or tractor or pickup. Those things happen. Minimum 18 months for the first offense and 2 offense 5 years.

[hlthe2b]

4. What the hell? A single DUer said there should be NO animal cruelty laws?

I think this person ought to explain their position. Truly!

[KamaAina]

30. Obviously this individual is not aware of the "Show usernames" feature

[hifiguy]

5. HELL YES!

Felony with meaningful jail time. What sensible person wouldn't?

[AtomicKitten]

6. It must include protections for livestock.

www.mercyforanimals.org

[WillowTree]

7. I will always favor VERY unpleasant consequences for animal abusers.

Only the soulless can intentionally harm a child or a defenseless animal. (Charging brown bears take note: You're not defenseless and you're on your own.......Sorry.......)

[CreekDog]

8. Nobody's surprised about you know who are they?

Shouldn't be.

[Rex]

9. My only surprise is that they are still here posting on DU.

I guess even being obvious doesn't mean as much as it did at one time.

[CreekDog]

10. maybe there's an exception for being the most obvious

[Rex]

11. Good point. nt

nt

[Jamastiene]

19. No surprise there.

Surprised they are still here though.

[Liberal_in_LA]

12. yes

[hfojvt]

13. what exactly is "animal cruelty"?

I was charged with cruelty because my dogs were in my car.

What was cruel? The dogs were fine, as I knew they would be.

But I guess there are some people who would like to cut my hands off for that.

Because they are really against cruelty.

[el_bryanto]

14. well they might also be against hands.

The fact that some overzealous people gave you a hard time doesn't mean that animal cruelty doesn't occur in other situations though - it clearly does.

Bryant

[hfojvt]

16. it wasn't overzealous people

it was overzealous city councilors and then cops following the moronic law written by those self-righteous busybodies.

[CreekDog]

15. What was the temperature in the car when you were gone?

[hfojvt]

18. less than it would have been

had I taken them for a walk in the sun where there would not have been water.

I was quite sure they would be alright.

And it turns out I was correct.

The only creature harmed in that incident was me - harmed by an oppressive police state.

[CreekDog]

29. since you don't know, tell us the date and city and we'll figure it out for you

[CreekDog]

31. you don't want to answer huh?

[LanternWaste]

20. The infliction of physical pain, suffering or death upon an animal...

"what exactly is "animal cruelty"?"

"The infliction of physical pain, suffering or death upon an animal, when not necessary for purposes of training or discipline or (in the case of death) to procure food or to release the animal from incurable suffering, but done wantonly, for mere sport, for the indulgence of a cruel and vindictive temper, or with reckless indifference to its pain."


Easy for the rational mind to grasp. Confusing for those who wish to rationalize it and pretend they're the victim instead...

[Lancero]

22. The last part is rather interesting, given differing interpretations.

My dad was almost arrested because he had the gall to want to save our dog.

He'd made the mistake of eating a wicker basket. The results are as painful and messy as you can expect. Most people would think that putting down a dog with such injuries is the right thing to do. Most people would consider killing the animal, rather then giving it a chance to recover, to be the humane thing to do.

The vets recommendation was that the dog be put down, and when my dad refused that he reported him to the police over it. The cops were slow to act on that report, so by the time they showed up at our house the dog had recovered.

This taught me one thing - People are so quick to condemn a animal to death. Some injuries are not as fatal as people think, it's just that a lot of people don't want to put in the time and effort to help the animal recover.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

21. The most important animal welfare issue isn't people abusing animals.

It's the conditions in which animals being raised in agriculture are kept and transported.

I'd have to check the numbers, but I suspect that trading a tenfold increase in the number of people torturing their pets for a slight improvement in the living conditions of animals being raised for food or milk would be an excellent deal.

[Kurska]

24. The factory farming system is awful

But that doesn't mean that animal abuse isn't an important subject matter.

[GreatGazoo]

23. I think states should require a license for owners BEFORE you can own a dog

The sale of dogs is mostly unregulated and most laws only refer to registering the dog and getting rabies vac.

A fee, a test and a certificate, then you could own a dog. Presently there doesn't seem to be a good way to stop serial abusers, dog fighting, animal hoarders, etc. When the person wants to get another dog, the question should be answered "what happened to the last one?"

Also the fee for unneutered male dogs should be 10 times the fee for neutered since unneutered male dogs are responsible for 87% of bites and 93% of fatal attacks. You could get 90% of that fee back if you can prove that you had the dog neutered.

We euthanize well over 10 million dogs a year in the US. As long as dog ownership is casual and unregulated it will be ripe with abuse. Dogs (and all other animals) deserve better.

[hunter]

25. Strict, as in "no factory farm animals."

The meat and dairy aisle in the supermarket would be small and very expensive.

To stay in business McDonald's would have to sell veggie burgers or became a gourmet restaurant.

I like this guy's proposal:

How to Obtain your Meat Licence

Licence Requirements:

• Another person must be present when you engage in any act of killing, and they are required to sign the affidavit document as the legal witness.
  
  
• It is fundamentally important that the kills with which you are engaged, are legal, within the local jurisdiction where you are operating (e.g. some forms of killing in the Netherlands may not be permitted in the UK and vice-versa - if in doubt check with your local authority.)
  
  
• No responsibility whatsoever is accepted by theThe Meat Licence Proposal for any adverse consequences arising from your attempts to obtain your meat licence. Should you wish to engage in any acts of killing then you do so at your own risk and your own expense.

Completed affidavits can be submitted (as scans or photographs) to the address below. Please include a postal address to which your licence will be sent if all the information is correct.

http://www.meatlicence.org.uk

Okay, I know that's a bit extreme and I probably couldn't afford to feed my dogs in such a world, since I'm not willing to force dogs to accept a vegetarian diet. (All three of our dogs are from the animal shelter. Their breeders were unethical or ignorant, selling the dogs to people who didn't know how to live with dogs, which is how the dogs ended up in the shelter.)

But no, I don't want to tell anyone else what to eat, especially people who have hardly enough money to occasionally buy cheap ground beef, bacon, hot dogs, chicken, eggs, or cheese.

My ancestors were ranchers and dairy people. My mom's cousin still owns her family's original homestead. My niece is studying to raise goats as a versatile modern meat and dairy animal, and there are people in my family who still hunt for food.

But that's worlds away from modern dairies where the cow's hooves never touch any surface but a mountain of cow shit or concrete, or chickens lay eggs in row after row of tiny cages where they can't turn around until their "production" declines and they are turned into soup stock, chicken "nuggets," "meat byproducts," and fertilizer.

We could treat our animals much better than that.

I also believe there are classes of animals that deserve near-human protections and guardianships; animals like chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, other great apes, elephants, many cetaceans...

It's pretty damned depressing to live in a society where both animal abuse and people abuse are common.

[tularetom]

26. Death penalty for animal cruelty

I'm only half kidding.

[procon]

28. Change the law and recognise that companion animals are beloved

members of our family and more valuable to our intrinsic happiness than an inanimate object like a chair or some piece of lifeless property we can easily replace at the store.

[Nye Bevan]

32. I have to pick the first one because my dog is so sweet and loving.

It would take an uncommonly evil person to deliberately hurt him.