Here’s an easy way for all of us to help enact stronger enforcement of laws against animal abusers. Big barks to all the Senators who have already signed on to this legislation and Senator Menendez for leading the pack!

Thanks to Mary O. of BanOhioDogsAuctions.com for barking in this news.

Dear Companion Pet Lovers ~

Thought you would find this of interest….

Also, new legislation in the U.S. Senate, introduced by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), directs the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to include animal cruelty crimes as a separate category in the agency’s crime data reporting system. The Tracking Animal Cruelty Crimes Act of 2007 directs the U.S. Attorney General to modify the FBI’s crime data reporting systems, which include the Uniform Crime Reporting Program, the National Incident-Based Reporting System, and the yet-to-be released Law Enforcement National Data Exchange (N-DEx), to list cruelty to animals as a separate offense category.

Although all states have anti-cruelty laws and 43 states provide felony-level penalties, local police agencies do not have a place in their reporting forms to enter these crimes. The result is that animal cruelty crimes are assigned to miscellaneous categories that provide no further guidance to law enforcement agents or policymakers. Without accurate tracking, there is no way to access important information such as trends or the relationship to demographic and geographic data, on which to base policy development and resource allocation.

Sen. Menendez was joined in introducing the bill Dec. 12 by co-sponsors Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), and Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.). In the House of Representatives, Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) have been leading the effort to add animal cruelty to the FBIs crime data reporting system.

The American Humane Association supports this legislation. Tell your senators to co-sponsor and support the Tracking Animal Cruelty Crimes Act of 2007!