Laws on Animal Cruelty

[Brittney]

Ok, so my brother is living in Knoxville, TN. He is doing his weather internship there. Anywho, they were covering a story on animal cruelty, and even my brother knew this was a load of bull.

Warning, this is a news article, but it is still very detailed.

http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=101888&provider=top


If you read the article, it says that the kid who helped the other kid kill a dog only got 60 some odd hours of community service for his actions. What!??! And the Kid who killed the dog only got 60 days in jail and anger management classes! What a slap on the wrist.

This quote is what worries me the most:
"Dogs and cats are weaker than another person," said Dr. Elizabeth Strand of the UT Veterinary Social Work Program. "So they're an easy target. A child that has anger problems, anger management problems, may take that anger out on an animal."

Studies show children who abuse animals are more likely to hurt humans later in life

Then why wouldn't you lock the second kid up along with the 1st? Obviously he has a sick mind as well.

Uhg this just made me so mad.

So how many out there believe animal abusers, no matter if they helped or if they did the deed themselves, should be put behind bars for a longer period of time?

Obviously if they are killing animals, and you know it will eventually lead to them killing people, why wouldn’t you nip it in the bud right there?

Sorry, I'm babbling because I'm angry. Anywho, input, good or bad, have at it.

 

[BooBoo*TheKiddo*]

I watched this on the news last night. I think its bull that the other kid didn't get the same charges as the 18 year old. Being 17, most court would try him as a adult, or put the trial off until he was. Thats what the court here does.
The 17 year old should have gotten the same thing as the 18 year old and it should have been a longer sentence, and they should have been put on probation and not allowed any weapons.


This article coming out when it did is a huge help, because I'm doing my argumentive essay on animal cruelity.

 

[Sesame]

Sadly, the lack of strength the animal cruelty laws have, have been like this for quite some time. I remember when my sister and I were in elementary school, my sister wrote an essay about this for a competition (she actually placed/won). This was about 10 years ago.

I think there's a decent part of the population that are against animal cruelty and would perhaps see that laws be more strict, but I'm unsure as to why there hasn't been much change. Every time there's a highly publicized case of animal cruelty in the news, there seems to be much public opinion in how the defendant should be sentenced. I guess this type of crime is not very high on the list of issues for politicians?

 

[Luci]

i feel the exact same way you do britney. IMO, anyone who abuses an animal needs to be put behind bars for a good amount of time and be prescribed counseling. i strongly believe that those who abuse animals will go on to abusing humans. whether its anger problems, pure bored-ness (is that a word?), or a psychological problem, that individual needs counseling.

2 years ago my friends were telling me about this guy who goes to school with us, hes in the corps of cadets (a&m thing). anyways, one day he caught a wild rabbit by the levees near our campus, took it to his dorm room, and to not be too detailed, treated it as a pinata. there were a few other guys who helped him with this. i was furious and couldnt believe he had gotten away with it. a friend of mine is an RA on campus so i informed her about it and the next day, the police were at his dorm room. from what i heard, no evidence of animal cruelty was found so he wasnt punished. ive heard that he has this sick goal of killing one animal each year. and at the moment, he has a hedgehog. i dont know where he lives (i think its still on campus) but have no idea how to change the situation without evidence.

people like this scare me and really tick me off.

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

In many parts of this country - one can just shoot an animal just because they don't want them anymore. In TN, where my son and his family live that is consider normal behavior. People are constantly 'dropping off' unwanted dogs and cats. My daughter-in-law tells me that rescue places won't even take an adult dog or cat. So the animals are left to wander and die. They have taken in I don't know how many cats and dogs thru out the years.
One Easter, while preparing for church my son and his family realized that their cat was injured (he had a metal stake in his eye). Instead of going to church they went to the vets with the cat. Thank God the cat was ok after taking out the stake and were even able to bring the cat home. The priest of their church had a 'holy fit' because they missed church on Easter. He said they were 'being tested' and they failed. The Priest (get this) said they should have shot the cat and went to church. Cruelty to animals is everywhere

 

[moon]

That just makes me sick to my stomach.

 

[AnimalsR4Me]

Think of it this way. If you're an accessory to a murder of a human, do you get the same amount of punishment? Not generally. The one who actually did the shooting/beating whatever it was, gets it the hardest, and yes, you'll get something, but you don't generally get it as severe...so I guess that's how I look at it, not that I agree with it at all, but that's how it tends to go. People are cruel and nasty. It's part of life. One day....one day....they'll see how it feels. Karma to them boys. Gross

 

[Ash]

Even the 60 days in jail and the rest isn't enough for the "adult". Seriously. Get his GED so he can understand that what he did was wrong? Hold a job for 2 years? A school education doesn't teach you that beating an animal is wrong, that's a part of morals and ethics. And what does having a job have to do with anything?

 

[Laurie]

Can you say serial killer? This is in both boys future.

 

[greychins]

I just took an Animal Law class here at the law school... the problems with a lot of the animal cruelty laws and the sentencing people get for mistreating animals is mainly that animals are considered property. So instead of it being like these boys killed a dog (or whatever happened, I didn't read the article), it's more like they destroyed the neighbor's chair or wrecked the neighbor's car. I look at my dog as my family, and I know a lot of people feel the same... however, courts look at animals as property--they have no rights, they cannot bring a court case, they cannot testify in court... and even if someone does bring a case for a dog (like, say, if the owner of the dog wanted to sue the boys because they killed the dog), all the owner would be able to get would likely be the market value of the dog. Want to guess what the market value is for a trained German shepherd guard dog (from a court case I can't recall the name of)? $50. Yup, fifty dollars. So for those of us who have pets that don't actually serve a "function" other than being a companion, the market value is next to nothing, or sometimes, even nothing.

There are plenty of people who want animals to have some rights. Obviously not to move them to the status of people, because that would open tons of other cans of worms (imagine dog custody when the owners break-up), but to bring them to a status between property and people. I don't exactly know how that would be done, but the reason that I believe it has not been is because most courts/judges out there really seem to hold the belief that "it's just a dog" and being that, it's property... it's not like they killed a person, after all--so the judges say.

I mean and I think a lot of us here, on this animal-based forum, see pets as our family members. I know I do, I'm the one that bawls when a pet mouse dies, much less a dog... but a lot of the world sees animals as disposable, and as property. Who hasn't read that thing posted on craigslist, the "animal shelter's answering machine" thing, where it's like "press 23 if you'd like to drop your dog off because it doesn't match with your new furniture." I mean that sounds outrageous, but there are people out there that are like that.... and unfortunately, to a lot of the world, animals are just that - animals. Property. Whatever you'd like to call it... I saw a craigslist ad the other day for a border collie. Said that the people got rid of the livestock and so they didn't need the dog anymore... while that may be true... that they didn't need the dog... I couldn't see getting rid of the dog just cause you didn't need it... and maybe I would think different if I'd grown up on a farm, where a border collie would have a purpose, but even if I DID have a dog just to herd sheep, if I got rid of the sheep, I'd keep the dog...

Sorry, I keep going on and on. Point being. People think animals are disposable and they're property, like a lamp or a chair. Because of that, relatively lenient punishments are given in the case of crimes relating to them. It's not fair, but unfortunately, it's the way it is... at least til someone, or a group of someone's, goes and changes it.

And I agree, I've seen on tv so many cases of serial killers that started with animals and then moved onto people... I agree that these boys are headed down that road...

 

[Ash]

Gotta love the irony of it. You kill a regular dog, it's next to nothing. But kill or injur a police dog, it's "like killing a member of the police force." They'll do everything they can to get back at you.