Subcommittee killed two animal cruelty bills

Jessica Samuels and Emilio Alvarez
Contributing Writers

Fear of stolen dogs and legal redundancy caused two animal cruelty bills to be killed in subcommittee during the 2016 General Assembly session.

House Bill 38 would have granted a person civil immunity for breaking into a hot vehicle to rescue an unattended animal. The other, House Bill 958, would have made drowning animals a criminal penalty.

HB 38 was killed because the Virginia Federation of Dog Clubs and Breeders were worried about possible ramifications because to the wording of the bill.

“We are concerned, however, that these bills, as introduced, could lead to unintended consequences. A new trend on the rise across the United States is known as ‘dog flipping,’” said Alice Harrington, the federation’s liaison.

Dog flipping is when someone steals a prized dog breed and sells the animals online. The Animal Kennel Club began tracking this trend from 2008 to 2014 and noticed a 4.5-percent increase in the crime. The AKC also reported an increase in dog thefts. In 2008, the number of dogs stolen was 71 and in 2014, there were 637 dogs stolen.

However, some people think these concerns should not have overruled the bill.

“We think that objection is a sorry excuse at animal protection,” said Marisa Price a college advocacy coordinator with PETA.

Even if there was the potential threat of dog flipping, animals still are being left in vehicles. Virginia Commonwealth University Police say its officers will respond to calls about animals locked in vehicles.

“Our officers will respond if there is a call for an animal in a vehicle in the VCU Police jurisdiction,” said Corey Byers, VCU public information officer.

Byers also said within the past year VCU police had four animal cruelty arrests.

Henrico police Officer Leah Coward said the Henrico police received 131 calls about dogs locked in cars in the past year.

HB 958 was killed because of legal redundancy for adding the word “drowning” to the code of Virginia.

The bill would have been used to amend the law because the code doesn’t provide a criminal penalty for drowning of an animal. The provisions of the bill would not apply to a person who has been issued a trapping permit to use a completely submerged body-gripping trap by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

Del. Mark Keam (D-Vienna), introduced the bill, but received little support from the subcommittee.

“Members of the subcommittee believed that the existing term “killing” in the Virginia Code should be interpreted to include drowning,” Keam said. “So passing my bill to add the word “drowning” would make the law redundant.”