Commission: Punish troops who abandon pets

[unhappycamper]

Commission: Punish troops who abandon pets
By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Oct 24, 2009 10:08:48 EDT

Airmen who adopt pets when stationed overseas and then abandon those animals when they move should face criminal charges, according to a commission on military justice.

“Because this abuse and abandonment often takes place overseas and is beyond the reach of local civilian authorities, service members can go unpunished for this conduct,” the commission said.

The Commission on Military Justice, created in 2001 to assess the military justice system’s laws and practices, received dozens of letters and e-mails about the issue of animal abuse from people in Italy, England, Germany and the U.S.

~snip~

The Uniform Code of Military Justice punishes abuse of a “public animal” under Article 134, known as the general article. But currently there are no laws addressing treatment of pets, which are legally considered “non-public animals.”

“Currently there is not an adequate mechanism for holding these service members criminally accountable when they abuse or abandon these non-public animals,” the commission said in its report, released Oct. 19.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/10/airforce_abandoned_pets_102409w/