A Legislative Update

The laws that protect animal welfare in Alabama are constantly being negotiated. As a caring member of an animal loving community, what can you do? Get informed, engage with your elected officials, and be part of the vote. TheSstate Director of The Humane Society, Mindy Gilbert shared her updates from recent Alabama State Legislature sessions as they stood on March 16. Here is a summary of her insights:

The issue of public policy related to protections for animals is a difficult one in Alabama. There has been an ongoing fouryear attempt to amend current protections in place. The good thing about the Cruelty to a Dog or Cat Statute (Section 13A-11-240) passed in 2000 is that the enforcers have a lot of leeway, and it actually provides a good deal of protection for cats and dogs. But under new proposed Senate Bill 196, which is currently stalled, an officer who is investigating would be required to allow 10 days for the owners to make corrections and would have to make an appeal to the Agriculture Department. Also problematic is that if the commissioner of Agriculture determines the complaint to be unfounded, the complainant could be criminally charged for making the complaint. The bill, which would remove local government authority to enact laws pertaining to animals, continues to be intentionally stalled.

We need people to get involved and contact their legislators for bills that arise and engage with their legislators on issues that they care about. Prior to the current debate, a bill was defeated two years in a row that would define the type of shelter that animals should have (instead of some lean-to next to the tree they are tied to, for example). The bill was defeated both years by the lobbyists with the Montgomery-based Alabama Farmer’s Federation (part of ALFA Insurance), in spite of the fact that the bill provided a definition to a term in the existing law that pertains solely to a dog or cat, and cannot be applied to animals in production agriculture.

P I T S T O P P H O T O S

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