Big Win for Animal Rights in Ohio

The State of Ohio recently passed “Goddard’s Law” that has Animal Rights activists rejoicing. The new law will charge anyone who harms an animal with a felony. The new law will charge a human with a 5th degree felony for purposely causing harm to a companion animal. These are the lowest level felonies in the state, but still a major shift in the laws protecting animals.

This means that anyone in Ohio who knowingly causes harm to a companion animal will receive a prison sentence of at least 6 months and a $2,500 fine. It also requires veterinarians to determine whether or not a pet owner is using their animal to obtain prescription pills for themselves. The new law also applies to law enforcement animals if the assault results in the animal’s death.

The bill was passed with considerable bipartisan support; sponsored by a Republican and Democrat, signed into law by John Kasich. Bill Patmon said Goddard’s Law was the hardest bill he ever worked on in his career, taking over 5 years of negotiation for it to finally pass.

Rhode Island Animal Rights

Rhode Island has the 7th best animal cruelty laws in the country according to the most recent report by the Animal League Defense- that is stronger than most states. The report compares all states, which puts Rhode Island in the top tier of states. Rhode Island is 2nd in New England, only behind Maine. Rhode Island has moved up considerably over the past 6 years since 2010 when it was ranked 14th.

At the time, E.J. Finocchio, the president of the RISPCA, said he was not proud of it and called the criteria of the report very weak. The main reason for this was because of the categories looked at by the study, it only looked at the laws themelves- not the enforcement of those laws. During his 8 years as president, he said prison time for extreme animal cruelty was so rare that he could not recall any examples. He also added that judges routinely reduce fines offenders face to the point that it doesn’t prevent that type of behavior in the future.

In 2009, Rep. Rod Driver sponsored failed legislation that would have created a registry of people who were known animal abusers, similar to the sex offender registry.

Rhode Island is taking action on the issue of animal abuse and cruelty.

In the summer of 2016, Gov. Gina Raimondo signed legislation that will penalize people who cruelly treat an animal in a way that causes the animal to die. This means people whose actions caused the death of the animal will be charged the same as someone who maliciously killed the animal. Perpetrators could face up to 5 years in prison, $1,000 in fines, and 50 hours of community service if convicted.

Citizens of Rhode Island have also taken animal rights and animal cruelty into their own hands. A petition popped up online calling for the State of Rhode Island and Governor Raimondo to step it up on tougher laws for animal abusers. The lady who created the petition said she did it in response to a recent story about 3 dogs being left to starve to death. She is a pet parent of an adopted shelter dog. Rhode Islanders are clearly engaged with this topic and ready for there to be changes made- but how far should Rhode Island go with animal abuse laws?

Should Rhode Island lawmakers and law enforcement crack down harder on animal abuse and neglect? Share your thoughts in the comments and share on Facebook to see what your friends think!