Gulfport, MS- Senator Billy Hewes and the Mississippi Legislature have finally made animal welfare a priority by introducing Mississippi Senate Bill 2623, legislation that could make the penalty for animal cruelty a felony. Mississippi is only one of four states that do not carry felony-level penalties for even the most violent acts of aggravated animal cruelty. HSSM is excited that the Mississippi legislature has taken this crucial first step towards animal rights, but this will not only affect our four-legged friends, because as studies have shown people that have a history of violence towards animals are more likely to exhibit violent behavior toward people. This bill will not only affect the offenders with higher fines as high as $10,000 and longer jail sentences, but their potential victims as well. The courts will also have the power to order psychiatric evaluation and treatment of offenders as well as forfeit their right to own pets in the future.

Help to put an end to the cycle of violent behavior before it starts. Contact your local senator today and urge him to support SB 2623. You can find a full list of senators by visiting http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/members/ss_membs.xml or find your representative by visiting www.capitalconnect.com and entering your address in the “Legislator Search”. Protect our people and pets by creating felony-level penalties for a first-offense of aggravated cruelty to animals.

You may read the bill in its entirety at http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2010/pdf/history/SB/SB2623.xml. The bill passed through Judiciary Committee B on Tuesday, January 25^th and is scheduled to go to the Senate floor on Thursday, February 4^th. Voting will begin at 10:00a.m. Please contact your local representatives today and ask them to be present and vote for SB 2623.

Special thanks to WLOX for highlighting this information on the news Tuesday night: http://www.wlox.com/global/category.asp?c=151146&clipId=&topVideoCatNo=15006&topVideoCatNoB=116100&topVideoCatNoC=116467&topVideoCatNoD=116474&topVideoCatNoE=88558&clipId=4491674&topVideoCatNo=15006&autoStart=true

If you have any questions related to this bill, please do not hesitate to call me and discuss.  Thank you in advance for your consideration and please help us fight animal cruelty in Mississippi.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 1:30 pm and is filed under Press Releases. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.