A Modern Animal Protection Law Proposed for New York

According to recent reports, New York State Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal has introduced a "Consolidated Animal Crimes" Bill, to thoroughly modernize New York's animal cruelty / animal protection laws.  By an accident of history, most animal protection laws (and prohibitions on cruelty to animals) are currently housed in New York's Agriculture and Markets Law.  As the name of that portion of our laws implies, sections therein deal mostly with rules and regulations governing livestock, farming, and other agricultural issues.  It is, of course, not the first section one would look to understand the laws prohibiting animal cruelty.

This new bill (Assembly Bill A00775B / Senate Bill S06643) apparently seeks to remedy this by substantially revising parts of the Agriculture and Markets Code, and creating an entirely new Article in the Penal Law (our criminal law): Article 280 - Offenses Against Animals.  Although this bill is still in the Agriculture Committee, should it become law, some of the more interesting developments would be:

1. Second-degree promotion of animal fighting [engaging in the wagers or other peripheral activities of dog fighting, etc.] would be a Class-A Misdemeanor;
2. First-degree promotion of animal fighting [training, breeding, and/or purposefully forcing an animal to fight] would be a Class-D Felony;
3. Second-degree animal cruelty [severe neglect, abandonment, cruel treatment, or poisoning] would be a Class-A Misdemeanor;
4. First-degree animal cruelty [torturing, purposefully wounding, purposefully killing] would be a Class-D Felony;
5. Abuse of an animal involved in racing, breeding, or exhibition of skills [committing second-degree cruelty or tampering with a race horse, racing hound, etc.] would be a Class-E Felony;
6. Third-degree animal abduction ["restraining" a person's pet] would be a Class-B Misdemeanor;
7. Second-degree animal abduction [stealing a person's pet] would be a Class-A Misdemeanor;
8. First-degree animal abduction [stealing a person's pet and demanding ransom, or where the pet is injured or dies] would be a Class-D Felony.

As anyone familiar with criminal law can explain, a crime classified as a felony carries significant consequences.  It is hoped by the sponsors of this bill that the heightened penalties (as well as the reclassification under the Penal Law) will more clearly relate the seriousness of torturing an animal and stealing a person's pet.

I like the sound of this Bill.

Members of law enforcement and animal protection groups have publicly supported this Bill with the reasoning that "putting more specificity in the law would make it that much easier to prosecute people."  While I don't think it should be the province of our state legislature to generally make it "easier to prosecute" people, I do support the re-classification and amendment of our animal protection laws, for a  different reason: it should make the average New York much more aware of (1) their basic legal (if not moral) responsibility to pets and wildlife in our state; and (2) their legal rights if their pet is stolen or harmed by another.  And, of course, the less unnecessary harm caused to animals in our state, the better for all of us.