Topeka — Proposed legislation to toughen penalties for animal cruelty would also help protect people, advocates told state lawmakers Monday.
Law officers and experts on domestic violence told the Senate Judiciary Committee that frequently a person who abuses animals is also committing violence against a spouse or partner.
Midge Grinstead is at the forefront of a lobbying effort to enact stiffer penalties for animal abuse. Grinstead, executive director of the Lawrence Humane Society, has compiled more than 800 photos of abuse cases in Douglas County.
One woman, who asked not to be identified, said she sought protection from her husband after he killed the family pet. She said she reasoned that if he could kill the family pet "he was also capable of killing me."
Eric Thompson, president of the Kansas Animal Control Assn., said animal abuse usually accompanies other crimes, such as drug abuse or cockfighting and dog fighting.
Midge Grinstead, executive director of the Lawrence Humane Society, testified that people convicted of torturing animals are not punished severely enough.
"We need help," Grinstead said in support of a bill by Sen. David Haley, D-Kansas City, who has tried but failed for years to get the Legislature to clamp down on animal abuse.
Haley has championed legislation, nicknamed "Scruffy's Law," since 1997, when a 12-year-old Yorkshire terrier named Scruffy was tortured and killed in Kansas City, Kan.
Grinstead said the Humane Society receives animals every week that have been "burned or beaten."
She cited the case of Brett Rizzo, convicted last year in connection with the torture death of a cat in Lawrence. He was given probation.
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"They never get what you think they are going to get," she said.
Currently, cruelty to animals is a misdemeanor offense seldom resulting in a jail sentence.
Haley's proposal would make the crime a felony carrying a minimum sentence of 30 days imprisonment and a maximum of one year.
State Sen. John Vratil, R-Leawood and chairman of the committee, said he didn't know whether the measure would be supported by the committee but that the panel would work on it. Several people who testified before the committee said they also wanted the bill to require that a person convicted of animal cruelty take anger management counseling.
State Rep. Barbara Ballard, D-Lawrence, attended the committee hearing. Later she said she hoped the Legislature would adopt Haley's bill.
"If someone is cruel to an animal, they are going to be cruel to people," Ballard said.
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