Target: Glenn Thompson, Chair of U.S. House Committee on Agriculture
Goal: Support inclusion of animal abandonment and neglect as felony offenses under federal law.
A woman in New Jersey was charged with leaving her pet kittens without access to food or water and within a backpack. Three cats – again lacking food or water – were reportedly discovered at a Tennessee-based pet grooming facility where the owner was facing eviction. In Arkansas, authorities apparently found a dead dog and several sick cats in a vacated apartment, and the owner of the premises faces animal cruelty charges.
Each of these cases shares a disturbing commonality: alleged abandonment of vulnerable animals by their caretakers. Unfortunately, acts of abandonment and neglect are often classified as misdemeanors because of a supposed lack of malicious intent. But depriving an animal of essential needs for a long period of time can arguably be worse and more torturous than a swift act of violence. And such abuse often results in serious sickness or death.
Sign the petition below to urge federal leaders to set a strong example against insidious forms of cruelty by making animal neglect and abandonment part of the nation’s Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Representative Thompson,
With the advent of animal abuse registries and new codes of conduct like hot car laws, public recognition of animal cruelty as a serious crime has finally arrived. The PACT Act was an important step forward in achieving this recognition, but a major loophole has allowed some of the deadliest acts of abuse to go unpunished. While the law views crushing, burning, and other acts of violent torture committed on federal property as felonies, it remains silent on animal abandonment and neglect.
Arguments are often made that a lack of malicious intent exists in such cases, but long-term neglect and especially abandonment typically require some degree of foreknowledge. And is slowly starving an animal over agonizing days, weeks, or months not an act of prolonged torture? Too many times, these tragic circumstances result in a painful death.
Classifying these forms of abuse as felonies gives greater leeway in imposing serious jail time, enhanced fines, ownership bans, and mandatory psychological counseling for offenders. Let the PACT Act be an example and a template for every state in America by providing animal cruelty’s often forgotten victims the justice and the protection they deserve.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Chris F.
