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Summer Knight and Tupelo Mayor Jason Shelton speak Thursday afternoon at the Mississippi Animal Advocacy meeting at the Tupelo Bark Park.
By William Moore
Daily Journal
TUPELO – Animal lovers across Mississippi gathered Thursday to drum up support for tougher animal cruelty laws.
“Instead of folks driving to Jackson, there are meetings all around the state,” said Summer Knight, who organized the animal advocacy meeting at Tupelo’s dog park. “Today is Humane Lobby Day and it’s a way to remind people that we are trying to strengthen the penalties for cruelty to companion animals – dogs and cats.
“We have two state senators on our side and we hope to bring this up in the 2016 legislative session.”
They hope to change the language of the Mississippi Animal Welfare Act, passed in 2011.
The biggest change is to make aggravated animal cruelty a felony on the first offense. Currently, it is only a misdemeanor. Knight cited a recent incident in Harrison County where a dog was struck 30 times with a meat cleaver, but the judge could only charge the person with a misdemeanor.
They want to remove any exceptions from the aggravated cruelty law, as well as define adequate shelter as a structure with three sides, a roof and a floor. Proposed changes also include adding language to make denying medical treatment a cruelty.
About two dozen people and a handful of dogs showed up at the Tupelo meeting. Other meetings were held in Senatobia, McComb, Hattiesburg, Southaven, Picayune and Bay St. Louis.
“For us animal lovers, this is a very serious issue that, in my opinion, has been overlooked,” said Tupelo Mayor Jason Shelton. “We have to make the commitment to protect our four-legged friends.”
The proposed changes only apply to companion dog and cats, not livestock. It is already a felony to kill someone’s livestock.
By making penalties tougher, Mississippi would be following the lead of other states and the federal government.
“This really is a big deal,” said Candice Cayson of Tupelo. “There are so many other states that already consider this a felony.”
And the Federal Bureau of Investigation will start tracking animal cruelty on its uniform crime reports.
“The FBI takes this serious and will classify it with other Group A felonies, up there with murderers and arsonists,” Knight said.
william.moore@journalinc.com