Georgia HB 863 Animal Anti-Cruelty bill PASSED 166 to 1!

Georgia HB 863 Animal Anti-Cruelty bill PASSED 166 to 1!

Please stop calling now!  You may want to send a THANK YOU email to your Rep.

 

We will let you know if you need to contact the Senate. For now, NO more calls, please.

 

Bryan Grant 

bgrant@sepetrescue.org

 

VOTE YES ON HB 863

Prosecuting Attorney’s Counsel of Georgia (PACGA)

drafted & supports this bill

Today,  Monday, February 24, 2014, House Bill 863 will come to a vote on the floor of the Georgia House.  HB 863 represents the best effort in over a decade to make substantial improvements to Georgia's Cruelty to Animals statute.  These include:

·         Providing for felony punishment for the deliberate torture of animals, even if the animal is not seriously injured;

·         Providing for felony punishment for intentionally poisoning an animal;

·         Specifically providing for felony punishment for the most serious neglect-type cases (heretofore, all neglect cases were treated as misdemeanors, even where the animal dies or is seriously injured as a result of the neglect);

·         Penalties provisions increased for a second felony (1 – 10 year)

·         Clarifying language within various parts of the statute to make it easier for law enforcement and animal control officers and prosecutors to establish what neglect-type behaviors constitute a violation;

·         Closing a loophole in existing law which allows a person involved in a crime (say, a burglary) to injure or kill an animal (say, the family dog inside the house being burglarized that attacks the burglar) and still be justified in doing so; and

·         Providing that, in order for a person to kill or injure an animal and claim "self-defense", the threat posed by the animal must be imminent and not a hypothetical or imagined threat which might possibly occur in the future.

HB 863 is a carefully-crafted by line prosecutors and PACGA and is a conservative piece of legislation.  It accomplishes the above goals while still providing protection for otherwise-legal activities involving animals such as hunting, fishing, trapping, agricultural and animal husbandry practices, medical and scientific research, and the like.