Show House Bill 61 to punish animal cruelty Joseph W. W Bateman Contributing Writer With a 10 year old pleading Please Salt dont don't kill my kitten a year old kitten kitten kit kitten kit kit- Lake City man pounded a old month ten on the ground He then picked the kitten kitten kitten kit kit- ten up and tossed it against the wall The assault ended when the man removed the kittens kitten's internal organs Two men in their early twenties each fired several rounds from 22 caliber rifles into a herd of horses A mare and a prized stallion named Saint Shem were 4 year old wasn't the end of the killed I The shooting continued by cutting off assault The men stick of Saint Shem and jamming a the ears of f men then took into his rectum The pair turns using a rock wrapped m in a shirt to smash the horses horse's skull poured gasoline on a athen Tooele boys Two fire rITe set the dog on dog and then neighbors neighbor's tossed the dog into a then One of the boys garbage can all alls of animal abuse were L I examples These Society of Utah provided by Humane all 1 1 faced a count of animal animal ani- ani The perpetrators misdemeanor under undercurrent undercurrent class s B mal cruelty a they The punishments law law- Utah current S ninety days in would face would be up u o to in fines jail and up to mutilated the horses did dd The men who received ed probation sentences sentences sen- sen not get that They restitution for the and were to pay HB 61 Cont Conf on Page 8 HB 61 Cont Cant from front losses of property State Rep Scott Wyatt R- R Logan is seeking to change this by introducing and sponsoring sponsoring sponsoring spon spon- HB 61 This bill to make the he torture jf animal or causing an animals animal's death by torture a felony This change would increase the punishment for animal cruelty by a penalty of up to five years in jail and fines of up to If enacted the bill would make Utah the state to have enacted laws to make animal cruelty a felony The need for the bill is explained by the Humane Society of Utah who states the current law is treated as a minor infraction with very little little little lit lit- tle consequences Right now many cases of egregious greg us a cruelty go go If the seriousness serious serious- ness of the crime is elevated in inthe inthe inthe the eyes of the courts police and attorneys will be much more likely to want to devote their effort and expertise to incidents of animal torture the group said The animal group by using their http and placing several several several sever sever- al billboards along the Wasatch Front including one across from the main branch of the City Library is advocating advocating advocating cating for the passage of the bill by calling the p public t to contact conta t legislators t rs t I I Not all within the he anih amm animal 1 protection movement are entirely pleased by the bill The problem is that it does not reach far enough The bill does not include nonhuman nonhuman nonhuman non- non human animals that are used for the consumption of meat or dairy cows or for egg laying laying laying lay lay- ing hens said Aaron Lee President of Students for Compassionate Living Along with the increased penalties for animal cruelty H HB B. B 61 also includes a section section section sec sec- tion requiring anyone convicted convict convict- ed under the new law to evaluation evaluation undergo psychological T tio tion and ana treatment treatment 1 ll H J r M Mi i Gene B Executive Director of the Humane Society of Utah notes the link between animal abuse and human abuse Our culture is becoming increasingly aware that people who take pleasure in torturing any living being less competent competent competent compe compe- tent than the aggressor to defend itself are capable of dealing with other people in inthe inthe inthe the same manner too said The belief linking animal cruelty to human abuse is also echoed by several studies in psychology sociology and criminology 1 The Till American q II M Hi l J i I J n J r Psychiatric Association uses animal cruelty as a benchmark when diagnosing psychological cal disorders The link is also shared by bythe bythe bythe the FBI Since the the FBI has used this analysis when profiling the lives of serial killers such as Ted Bundy Jeffrey Dahmer and Albert DeSalvo The FBI study of 36 convicted serial killers revealed nearly half had tortured animals prior to moving on to murder their human victims A majority in the Utah House of Representatives s share are the siP t same r The Thet Ull i t a o or f n l I bill 1 We House to 1 passe passed the Inc House by a a J vote of 48 in favor of the bill to 24 opposed The bill now moves on to the Utah State Senate where it will again go through a committee before moving on for debate |