Home LOCAL NEWS Proposed law would make animal cruelty a felony across the U.S.

Proposed law would make animal cruelty a felony across the U.S.

by MyParisTexas
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Last week, two members of the U.S. House of Representatives re-introduced a bill that would make malicious acts of animal cruelty a felony nationwide. A violator would be subject to criminal penalties including a fine, a prison term of up to seven years, or both.

Rep. Vern Buchanan, R – Longboat Key, and Rep. Ted Deutsch, D – Boca Raton, introduced the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act. PACT would criminalize “crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating and impaling animals.” The measure would also address bestiality and other attempts to sexually exploit animals.

A previous law to protect animals, the Animal Crush Video Prohibition Actpassed in 2010 and outlaws producing gruesome videos of animal abuse. However, this bill aims to close a loophole in this law, which only punished abuse in videos.

The U.S. Senate has unanimously passed the PACT Act twice before, but in the House, the measure was blocked from coming to the floor by former Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., who is no longer in Congress.

The Humane Society Legislative Fund supports the measure and said the bill has a better chance of passage this session.

Photo: ASPCA

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