Current Tonight | October 15, 2010 | 11 comments

Animal Abuse Registry! Suffolk County (New York) Has Created the USA's First Public Online Database to Track Animal Cruelty Offenders!

source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/14/animal-abuse-registry-suf_n_762905.html

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EthicalVegan
Animal Abuse Registry: Suffolk County, NY Creating Nation's First Public Database Tracking Animal Cruelty Offenders

FRANK ELTMAN | 10/14/10 05:12 PM | AP



FARMINGVILLE, N.Y. — You've heard of Megan's Laws, designed to keep sex offenders from striking again. Now there's a law created in the hope of preventing animal abusers from inflicting more cruelty – or moving on to human victims.

Suffolk County, on the eastern half of Long Island, moved to create the nation's first animal abuse registry this week, requiring people convicted of cruelty to animals to register or face jail time and fines.

"We know there is a very strong correlation between animal abuse and domestic violence," said Suffolk County legislator Jon Cooper, the bill's sponsor. "Almost every serial killer starts out by torturing animals, so in a strange sense we could end up protecting the lives of people."

The online list will be open to the public, so that pet owners or the merely curious can find out whether someone living near them is on it. Some animal abusers have been known to steal their neighbors' pets.

Cooper is also pushing legislation that would bar anyone on the registry from buying or adopting a pet from a shelter, pet shop or breeder.

The law was prompted by a number of animal abuse cases in recent months, including that of a Selden woman accused of forcing her children to watch her torture and kill kittens and dozens of dogs, then burying the pets in her backyard.

Animal welfare activists hope the law, passed unanimously Tuesday in the suburban New York City county of 1.5 million people, will inspire governments nationwide in the same way Megan's Law registries for child molesters have proliferated in the past decade.

A spokesman for county Executive Steve Levy said he intends to sign the legislation. It then requires a six-month review by state officials before it goes on the books, said the spokesman, Dan Aug.

As Fred Surbito took his Yorkshire terrier, Sasha, in for grooming at a Farmingville pet store this week, he applauded the legislation.


"It's very, very important," he said. "If you don't love an animal, you should not have an animal. An animal is part of your family. Like your children, they should never be neglected or harmed. Anybody that does should never own a pet again."

More than a dozen states have introduced legislation to establish similar registries, but Suffolk County is the first government entity to pass such a law, said Stephan Otto, director of legislative affairs for the Animal Legal Defense Fund.

The Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals will administer the database, to be funded by a $50 fee paid by convicted abusers. All abusers 18 or older must supply authorities with their address, a head-and-shoulders photograph and any aliases. Convicted abusers will remain on the registry for five years. Those failing to register face up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.

After the 2009 arrest of Sharon McDonough, accused of burying kittens and as many as 42 dogs in her yard, neighbors whose pets had disappeared feared the worst. But authorities later concluded that McDonough – who is expected in court this month and could get up to two years in prison if convicted – bought the animals or adopted them through shelters or other traditional outlets.

While some abuse is motivated purely by cruelty, Suffolk SPCA Chief Roy Gross said, some recent cases are linked to the poor economy.

For instance, an emaciated Doberman mix was recently found near death inside a foreclosed-on home, he said. And sometimes, pet rescuer Cathy Mulnard said, elderly people on fixed incomes must decide between eating, or feeding their pets.

"They don't mean to be bad to the animal, but they get overwhelmed and don't know how to ask for help. They may be innocent abusers," said Mulnard, a founder and co-director of Second Chance Rescue, a Suffolk animal shelter that works closely with the SPCA.

Mulnard called the legislation "a godsend for the animals."

"We take care of our animals and love our animals the way you do your children," she said. "We need to protect every animal that's out there because they don't make the decisions in their life; human beings do."

___

Associated Press researcher Monika Mathur in New York contributed to this report.
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11 comments // Animal Abuse Registry! Suffolk County (New York) Has Created the USA's First Public Online Database to Track Animal Cruelty Offenders!

  • Dmerza1989
    • +1
      Dmerza1989  

    • Its like a flower raising out of shit. For all the bad things i have read today it is nice and refreshing to see something good in human nature. Over due is better than never seeing it.

    • 1 year ago
  • CCorsair
    • -3
      CCorsair  

    • They tried this in Calf and it failed due to the fact that Free sites already exist. This is the Animal right Extremest trying to tell everyone who own intact pet is evil breeder and a puppy mill(a PeTa made up term to describe commercial dog breeders) if they have one litter of puppies in one year you are evil they say.. In about year the will find this site will do nothing but the same thing the Free site do and that it be a waste of tax payers money and H$U$ and PeTa will be laughing all the way to the bank .
      If you love pets you have to stop this crazy BS love affair with PeTa and H$U$ their mission is to kill off every domestic animal on the planet and if you don't believe it you have more problems going on .. PeTa that sends out people to Kill dogs and Cats in the back of a Van and dump the bodies in them trash .. oh ya they got off in court but they did admit to KILLED PUPPIES AND KITTENS not unwanted animals but young animals they could have found home for. So are they going to be on the list? NO WHY Because they under the name of H$U$/ PeTa get go free as they are the ones making the laws made wile PeTa acting the Clown to distract people from what they want .. No one to have pet or service animal of any kind and to just stop breeding of all . Look up the PUPs bills or ACT that is being talked at the Fed level a bill to Limit or stop the breeding of Pets .. and the bill said if you have intact pet and you breed it you are a Kennel and must be license as one .. Like any one who lets an animal breed will be committing a crime. this bill will attack law biding pet owners as if they were beating the dog to breed and not going after the real problems.

      The Lie of Pet over population is just that a Lie The Truth is Shelter mismanagement of how they are run. Bad Laws at the local level forcing people to dump their pets vs paying extrema high fees and Then we have the Animal rescue group that are importing dogs from every country under the sun (the dog whisper bring in thousand to sell not adopt) Ton come in with no real health check or training or knowledge if they will be good pets but they end up stuffed in shelters all over the US saying it good to have them here vs in the country they belong to .. This is what H$U$ lies about and PeTa pulls the Strings .These groups Fight to keep No Kill shelters from being made and work at the capitols of every state lobbying to keep No Kill passing and to getting bad pet laws passed. You want to believe its about saving pet form bad people I see it as laws to do more harm and take away our right to own pets .
      People Scream if we tell any one when they can have kid or not but then at the same time they say animal have rights but not the right to be able to reproduce..that just ass backward . If everything has Rights you can't pick and choose what rights they can have .. Right are Rights so why are is PeTa so bent on killing ? Because the people who found the group is flawed in their thinking and no one is going to see it till we are too late .

      many of you will hate what i say but I hope many of you will just go do your fact checking and see what say is more truth then the Fiction that other spout.

      CC

    • 1 year ago
  • EthicalVegan
    • +1
      EthicalVegan  
    • Image

    • http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/a-welfarist-dream-come-true/

      A Welfarist Dream Come True: The Animal Abuse Registry
      Posted by Gary L. Francione

      PART ONE…

      Imagine you want to find a single-issue campaign that will allow you to fundraise endlessly, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so that you (and, more important, your donors) can “help the animals.”

      Imagine that this campaign will not require anyone to change their behavior toward animals. They can continue to eat steaks, drink milk, and wear wool or leather, attend the local circus and spend the afternoon at the horse racing track while, at the same time, they can feel good about being a “compassionate” person.

      Imagine a campaign the very point of which is to define “animal abuse” so narrowly that just about no potential donor, however much meat, milk, eggs, cheese, butter, ice cream or whatever they consume or whatever form of legalized exploitation in which they participate, will be considered as engaged in “animal abuse.”

      All anyone has to do is to support a completely meaningless gesture–with a donation, of course.

      Look no further: I have the campaign for you: the-animal abuse registries campaign.

      Suffolk County, on the eastern half of Long Island, has created the the nation’s first animal abuse registry this week. This law will require that people convicted of cruelty to animals to register with the authorities or face jail time and fines. The Suffolk law is modeled on “Megan’s Laws,” which create registries of child abusers.

      So now, we will be able to identify “animal abusers,” at least on part of Long Island.

      But wait.

      Will supermarkets in Suffolk County that sell the body parts and products of animals be on the registry? Well, no, because the sale of animal parts and products is perfectly legal. That’s not “animal abuse.”

      And will those Suffolk County residents who consume animal products–those of us who create the demand for animal products in the first place–be on the registry? Well, no, of course not. Consuming animals is not a violation of the anticruelty law.

      So just who is this law aimed at?

      Well, according to story linked to above, there was the woman who tortured the cats:

      The law was prompted by a number of animal abuse cases in recent months, including that of a Selden woman accused of forcing her children to watch her torture and kill kittens and dozens of dogs, then burying the pets in her backyard.

      It should be clear to you by now what the problem is here. By defining “animal abuse” as the rare, pathological behavior that runs afoul of the anticruelty laws–and that probably accounts for less than one millionth of one percent of animal use–we leave alone what is considered “normal.” We reinforce the notion that use is not abuse, that abuse only occurs as an exception to the rule rather than being the rule of every second of every day. Moreover, this law will also apply for the most part to situations involving the animals we fetishize-dogs, cats, etc. You know, the ones we love and regard as members of our families while we stick forks into all the others.

      In short, this is a meaningless gesture that will serve only to reinforce the notion that it is okay to exploit animals as long as we do not “abuse” them. Indeed, it declares that our “normal” use of animals is not abuse.

      It should also be clear why this sort of campaign is a welfarist’s dream come true: this is a campaign that just about everyone can support and that will make people feel self righteous. Only “bad” people are animal abusers and they are in the criminal registry; the rest of us are “compassionate” people.

      I can assure you that this campaign will be an unstoppable animal welfare gravy train. In fact, if you want to climb on board, you had better hurry; it’s already pulling out of the station:

      Animal welfare activists hope the law, passed unanimously Tuesday in the suburban New York City county of 1.5 million people, will inspire governments nationwide in the same way Megan’s Law registries for child molesters have proliferated in the past decade.

      CONTINUED…

    • 1 year ago
  • EthicalVegan
    • +2
      EthicalVegan  
    • Image
    • EthicalVegan:

      A Welfarist Dream Come True: The Animal Abuse Registry
      Posted by Gary L. Francione

      CONTINUED…

      PART TWO…

      ….

      More than a dozen states have introduced legislation to establish similar registries, but Suffolk County is the first government entity to pass such a law, said Stephan Otto, director of legislative affairs for the Animal Legal Defense Fund.

      PETA has already declared its enthusiastic support for the registry. Does PETA think that slaughterhouse slaughterhouse designer and meat-industry consultant Temple Grandin be on the list? Is she an “animal abuser”? No; PETA gave an award to Grandin.

      How about Whole Foods, which peddles “happy” meat and other animal products from animals who have been tortured? No, because PETA (along with most other large animal welfare corporations) supports the “happy” animal products sold by Whole Foods.

      How about animal organizations that have large budgets but that kill animals rather than have an adoption program? Are they “abusers”? No, PETA kills 90% of the animals it takes in at its facility so that cannot constitute abuse, can it?

      How about people who consume animal products? Does PETA consider them “animal abusers”? That would be a bit embarrassing given that half of PETA’s membership, according to PETA Senior VP Dan Mathews, is not even vegetarian.

      This proves my point that the abuse registry idea is just an attempt to define “abuse” as the pathological incident of torturing kittens and dogs in the backyard. But that is extremely unusual. It’s the daily exploitation by ordinary people, including that perpetrated, facilitated, and approved of by animal welfare businesses, that constitutes the real abuse.

      There are 50 states and Washington, D.C., various territories, and hundreds of thousands of counties, cities, villages, etc. This is a campaign that has the potential to go on for decades and will have an almost unlimited shelf life for fundraising purposes. I can already see Walks for the Registry led by various celebrities, allowing every woman, man, and child to buy their way out of the class of “animal abusers” by making a donation to ensure that the real “animal abusers” among us are on some criminal registry while the rest of us continue to feel good about ourselves. I am sure that there are already plans to have media events with naked women wearing only pieces of paper with the names of registry offenders. Oh, the sacrifices that some will make “for the animals.”

      And what about the Long Island woman who tortured the kittens and dogs? Isn’t it a good idea that we have a registry to identify people like that?

      To the extent that the registry can provide information to shelters that will help identify bad risks for future adoptions, fine. But in a fundamental sense, the woman who did those terrible acts is no different from anyone who consumes animals.

      You see, that person tortured kittens and dogs because she got some pleasure or satisfaction out of doing so. Was that wrong? Most certainly. But how is what she did really any different from what the rest of everyone else does? Most of us eat animal products and the animals from which those products were made were tortured every bit as much as the kittens and dogs in the Long Island case. But she’s a criminal and the rest of us, who support the registry and similar gimmicks, are “compassionate.” Go figure.

      Several years ago (2007), I made the observation that Michael Vick, who served time for dog fighting, was really no different than the rest of us. He liked to sit around a pit watching dogs fight; the rest of us like to sit around the summer barbecue pit roasting the corpses of animals who have been tortured every bit as much (if not more) than Vick’s dogs. The only difference is that most of pay someone else to do the dirty work. But we enjoy consuming the products of exploitation just as Vick enjoyed what he did.

      It’s all moral schizophrenia.

      If you are not a vegan, go vegan. It is easy, better for your health and the planet, and, most important, it is the right and just thing to do. It’s what we owe other animals. If you are vegan, then educate others about veganism.

      The World is Vegan! If you want it.

      Gary L. Francione

      http://puppybehavior.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/cats_dogs_together_760114.jp...

    • 1 year ago
  • littlelumpo
  • Oba_min_ation
  • artemis6
  • MrMxyzptlk
  • littlelumpo
  • EmperorThan
  • eternal_springs
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