House Bill Makes Animal Cruelty A Federal Crime

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washington-18

The U.S. House last month unanimously approved a bill to make animal abuse a federal offense nationwide. Congressman Fred Upton tells WSJM News the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act was championed by the Humane Society.

“This is obviously a no-brainer for many of us on either side of the aisle,” Upton said. “It just breaks our hearts when we see animals that are victims of cruelty by humans, and this was a bill to federalize some penalties. It passed on a unanimous vote. No one spoke against it.”

The bill makes illegal the “conduct in which one or more living non-human mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians is purposely crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled, or otherwise subjected to serious bodily injury.” It allows exemptions for hunting, trapping, and fishing, as well as pest control and research. Violators of the law could face penalties that include a fine, a prison term of up to seven years, or both. The act also bans knowingly creating an animal abuse video. It now goes to the U.S. Senate.