Here’s a term I never heard: animal crushing. But a new initiative, the Protect Our Pets Act (HR 8480), increases federal criminal penalties for animal crushing – a term that includes conduct to purposely crush, burn, drown, suffocate or impale living animals. Yes, there are people who do these horrific acts.
The bill also establishes a new federal criminal offense for abandoning or endangering domesticated animals.
Current law imposes criminal penalties—a fine, a prison term of up to seven years, or both—for animal crushing. Under this bill, an individual who commits an animal crushing offense is subject to a fine, a longer prison term of up to 10 years, or both for a first offense; and a fine, a prison term of up to 15 years, or both for a second or subsequent offense.
Additionally, the bill establishes a new federal criminal offense for knowingly abandoning a domesticated animal or committing an act of violence that endangers a domesticated animal. A violator is subject to criminal penalties — a fine, a prison term of up to 10 years, or both for a first offense; and a fine, a prison term of up to 15 years, or both for a second or subsequent offense.
The bill does, however, provide exceptions, including for conduct that is the slaughter of animals for food, medical or scientific research, necessary to protect the life or property of a person, or performed as part of euthanizing an animal. Animal activists are still addressing those issues.
The bill is in the House of Representatives. Contact your congressman or -woman to encourage them to support the passage of the Protect Our Pets Act.
