Animal Cruelty - ID cruelty bill: animal advocates, ag collaborate

BOISE, Idaho (AP) _ A renewed push to toughen Idaho's animal cruelty law has brought animal welfare activists and the agricultural community together in an unusual truce.

A bill before the Legislature and scheduled for discussion Thursday was written by Stop Torturing Our Pets, an Idaho animal welfare group that has worked toward consensus this year by seeking input from the state's largest agriculture groups.

As part of that process, an Idaho Farm Bureau spokesman says the activists agreed to leave any discussion of livestock out of the bill.

Under current Idaho law, animal cruelty is a misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum 6 months in jail.

The bill's sponsor Rep. Tom Trail, R-Moscow, called the new proposal 'three-strikes you're out,' because it would make a third animal cruelty conviction a felony.

The bill also would create a definition of torture, which refers to severe and traumatic acts that cause pain or death. Stan Boyd, executive director of the Idaho Wool Growers Association, said the definition of torture had to be distinct.

"To me there's a fine line between animal cruelty and torture," Boyd said.

Stop Torturing Our Pets President Virginia Hemingway said she hopes toughening the law will reduce the number of repeat offenders. According to the Idaho Supreme Court, 250 animal cruelty charges were filed in 2008, the highest number since it became illegal in 1996.

"We have people in Idaho who can rack up 15, 20, even 25 charges," she said.

Within the last month, Idaho has seen a broad spectrum of suspected animal cruelty cases: A cat found with an arrow through its head, 250 starving cattle removed from an Ada County farm, and seven dogs found locked in a home, with evidence they resorted to eating one another to survive.

In December, the Animal Legal Defense Fund ranked Idaho as one of the five worst states for animal cruelty laws. The others were Arkansas, North Dakota, Mississippi and Kentucky. Some of those states have since passed new laws or are considering them. Idaho's neighbor, Oregon, is considered one of the best, according to the California-based group.

Efforts to change Idaho law have been made several times but never made it far in the Legislature.

Legislative leaders agree that without the agricultural community's support, animal cruelty legislation cannot pass.

"If that community was totally opposed to that bill it probably wouldn't happen," House Speaker Lawerence Denney, R-Midvale and a farmer, told The Associated Press.

The Idaho Cattle Association and the wool growers have agreed not to fight the bill, while the Farm Bureau has given it a neutral recommendation, after opposing such measures in the past.

Those involved say this year is different because Hemingway and her group of 1,000 Idahoans asked for input from agricultural groups from the very beginning. Farm Bureau spokesman John Thompson said Hemingway's group approached his organization early on and asked what the Farm Bureau would disagree with.

The dealmaker? She was willing to remove references to livestock from the bill, he said.

"If it doesn't pertain to livestock it doesn't have anything to do with our members," Thompson said.

In a state where agriculture accounted for more than $6 billion in cash receipts in 2008, according to a report from the University of Idaho Extension, Hemingway realized she had to win over farmers and ranchers.

"We tried to make ours as lenient as possible to satisfy people who might be opposed to it," she said. "We're not here to harass people or cause a problem."

Cattle Association President Kent Mann said the agricultural community has opposed legislation to toughen animal cruelty laws in the past because such a move could interfere with its ability to function. For example, he said, the original legislation presented by Hemingway's group had defined a dog harassing an animal as cruelty.

"Well, sheep and cattlemen use dogs to herd their animals," Mann said. "We're not opposed to an animal cruelty bill, animals are our livelihood. People who abuse animals, especially in our industry, don't deserve to be in the industry."

Mann said the Cattle Association still has some concerns about how animal cruelty legislation will be interpreted by the courts.

"We've just have had so many bills where, when it goes before a judge, it's interpreted differently," he said.

Trail said the agricultural industry is conservative about animal cruelty laws "and for good reason."

"They look around the country and see what the animal activist groups are up to and get, well, real edgy," Trail said. "They fear a new law could be insidious to the industry."