Animal Cruelty Law in the United States, A Comparative Analysis

By Opal Dockery

ANIMAL CRUELTY LAW IN THE UNITED STATES, A Comparative Analysis is a research study to compare and contrast animal anti-cruelty statutes existing in all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia resulting in a suggestion that a reasonable solution regarding the reduction of crime lies within the realm of increasing penalties for such actions to a felony level along with incorporating a high degree of empathy for all living beings in the lives of American Citizens.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Nov 2, 2011
• ISBN: 9781312632196

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Animal Cruelty Law in the United States, A Comparative Analysis

Animal Cruelty Law In The United States, A Comparative Analysis

ANIMAL CRUELTY LAW

IN THE

UNITED STATES,

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

by

Opal Dockery

Animal Cruelty Law in the United States, A Comparative Analysis

By Opal Dockery

Copyright @ 2004 by Opal Dockery

Second Printing Ebook Edition 2014

Dixie Publishing Company

P.O. Box 364

Lamar, Missouri 64759

ISBN: 978-1-312-63219-6

Printed in the United States of America

All Rights Reserved

This paper considers a comparative analysis of animal cruelty law in the United States regarding all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia. Statutes and case law from these jurisdictions are examined. Although similarities and contrasts exist among the various anti-cruelty statutes, they do not sufficiently protect animals due to the fact that society considers them as property rather than living, feeling beings. Until such statute is changed, animals will never by afforded any respectable rights of protection.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank the professors at Central Missouri State University, Warrensburg, Missouri who served as my committee members, Dr. Donald Wallace (Chair), Dr. Dennis Laster, and Dr. Andy Crowther, for their help and support regarding this study. I especially want to extend my appreciation to Dr. Wallace for the continual time and patience he has offered me in developing this study. I also want to thank Dr. Blumberg, retired professor at Central Missouri State University, who helped me design the basic ground work for the study.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: NATURE AND SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Purpose of Study

CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY

CHAPTER III: EXAMINATION OF HISTORY AND  CURRENT STATUS OF ANIMAL CRUELTYLAWS

History of Anti-Cruelty Statutes

Anti-Cruelty Statutes Relating to Present Time

What is an Animal?

Property Status Regarding Animals

Weaknesses Pertaining to Anti-Cruelty Statutes

Mens Rea

Top 10 All-Types of Animal Abuse

Exemptions

Unique Features

Special Provisions

Necessity of Stronger Anti-Cruelty Laws

CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

CHAPTER 1

NATURE AND SCOPE OF THE STUDY

PURPOSE OF STUDY

The purpose of this study is to compare and contrast anti-cruelty statutes existing in all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia resulting in a suggestion that a reasonable solution regarding the reduction of crime lies within the realm of increasing penalties for such actions to a felony level along with incorporating a high degree of empathy for all living beings in the lives of American citizens. Means of achieving this goal are offered by exploration of such elements in anti-cruelty statutes and in cases relating to such statutes from the 1800's to the present. Benefits afforded animals often are determined from the definition of animal which states provide without considering the fact that all living beings are capable of experiencing the same degree of pain and suffering.

Although states vary in the amount of fines and degree of penalties for such crimes, identification of the animal property status is a reflection as well as the foundation of such anti-cruelty statutes. Needless pain and suffering relating to animals nationwide is a a result of the affect in which the manner of these laws are created. Even though a minimal amount of states have conferred the benefit of being granted loss of companionship regarding cases involving pets, the existence of property status remains the ruling factor.

CHAPTER II:

METHODOLOGY

The methodology of this study is descriptive as well as explanatory which includes close examination pertaining to the genesis of animal cruelty statutes such as the historical reasoning regarding their enactment and a description of the manner in which they came into existence. Opinions of historical and present-day scholars were utilized in the study as a means of presenting various views in consideration of animal cruelty. An extensive detailed analysis of anti-cruelty statutes with respect to animals is generously provided relating to all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia.

This study was also developed as an attempt to display the current status of animal cruelty laws, discover situations of animal abuse, and determine specific cases that relate to such abuse. The research was conducted in a systematic manner by a thorough examination of all state anti-cruelty statutes as well as the creation of an outline regarding the areas of the pertinent

legal issues to be incorporated into the study. As much information as possible was gathered relating to the selected areas and topics. Material was chosen that could best serve the composition of the study through the process of elimination. The statutory and case law of all 50 states and the District of Columbia were examined in light of  these areas of legal issues. These areas of legal issues were not found uniformally in all 50 states.

Cases that could provide examples of the legal issues were chosen after being examined at length. Anti-cruelty statutes, representing examples of current law, regarding the states pertaining to such cases were carefully studied in an effort to discover provisions that related to the particular act of cruelty displayed in a designated case.

Numerous search databases were utilized in the development of this study such as Weslaw Campus and Lexus-Nexus.

Extensive usage was also derived from Google and Yahoo websites. Various books, scholarly journals, court records, articles, and personal interviews also contributed to this research.

CHAPTER III

EXAMINATION OF HISTORY AND CURRENT STATUS OF ANIMAL CRUELTY LAWS

The following topics are discussed in this chapter: the history of animal cruelty statutes, the anti-cruelty statutes relating to present time, the concept of an animal, property status regarding animals, weaknesses pertaining to anti-cruelty statutes, and mens rea. Other displayed areas of interest include the top 10-types of animal abuse, exemptions, unique features, special provisions, and the necessity of stronger anti-cruelty laws.

Cruelty is defined as having or showing an indifference to, or pleasure in, another's pain or suffering. Animal cruelty and suffering has been categorized in three areas: neglect, failing to provide an animal with a vital requirement such as food, water, or shelter; abuse, which is striking, or willfully harming an animal with a club or instrument of harm; and deprivation, limiting an animal's freedom or preventing an animal from being

with others of its kind (Dryden, 2001). Socially unacceptable behavior that intentionally causes unnecessary pain, suffering, or

distress to and/or death of an animal can be considered animal cruelty (Ascione, 1993). Such cruelty imposed upon animals is not a new phenomenon due to the fact that humans have abused and neglected them for centuries (Perrett, 2003).

The intent of anti-cruelty laws is twofold. First, they seek to protect animals from mistreatment by imposing a penalty for such behavior. Second, such laws are intended to conserve public morals by deterring all forms of violent human behavior (Sauder, 2000). Anti-cruelty statutes are the only form of legal protection ever provided to animals in American society; but they do not bestow rights upon them (Cramton, 2000) due to the fact that human interests outweigh any benefit toward nonhuman animals. Indeed, this philosophy continues to be the foundation upon which current laws are built (Sauder, 2000). Laws specifically exclude from their purview anything accepted as standard practice in any industry ministering to the necessities of man (Rollin, 1981, p. 12).

HISTORY OF ANIMAL CRUELTY STATUTES

several observations relating to animal rights are examined in this section that include those of Reverend Humphrey Primatt, Jeremy Bentham, Lord Erskine, and Richard Martin. Issues considering the political movement with respect to animal rights are also contained in this section such as: the political movement regarding anti-cruelty statutes, the inadequacies of the early anti-cruelty statutes, Henry Bergh, People v. Tinsdale, and the societal readiness for animal protection legislation. Illustrations of levels of punishment are provided in the subsections with examples relating to levels of punishment, the general laws of California 1872, the Nebraska complied statutes 1887, and the Michigan complied laws 1929.

Historically, animal cruelty was not a crime at common law resulting in the absence of any law prohibiting even the most extreme violence toward animals reflecting society's view that animals were considered property; therefore owners could treat them as they pleased. Abusing one's horse was no more a crime

than kicking one's plow (Sauder, 2000). In an attempt to end such conduct, the first anti-cruelty law adopted in 1641 by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Article 92 in the colony's legal code, the Body of Liberties, declared that no man shall exercise any Tirranny or Crueltie towards any Bruite creature which are usuallie kept for man's use (Cramton, 2000, p. 1). But it was not until the 1800's that serious attempts were made in the United States to pass anti-cruelty laws (Sauder, 2000) which was a result of the example set by the British (Favr, 2002).

Reverend Humphrey Primatt

Identifying the Moral and Legal Status of Animals

Notwithstanding the political independence that America obtained from Great Britian during the late 1700's and 1800's, a considerable transfer of ideas still existed for the intellectually mature mother country to the newly formed and basically frontier United States. The first articulations of concern regarding the moral and legal status of animals first appeared in

a British writing by Reverend Humphrey Primatt in A Dissertation on the Duty of Mercy and Sin of Cruelty to Brute Animals, written in 1776, where he pleaded for the care of animals. "See that no brute of any kind...whether entrusted to thy care, or coming in thy way, suffer thy neglect or abuse. Let no views of profit, no compliance with custom, and no fear of ridicule of the