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......HELLO!...My name is Bentley. My mom Gina helped me create my very own Myspace page so that I could help raise awareness about Animal Cruelty as well as build a network of 4 legged "friends" along with their famlies.....
In the eyes of the law, animals are generally viewed as property. Animals are bought and sold, used in various industries, and do not have individual rights. However, owners of animals cannot treat or use their animals in any way they wish. Rather, state laws are enacted to protect animals from cruel and inhumane treatment.
In the state of Texas, numerous statutes govern the treatment of animals. First, criminal laws are in place to prohibit the cruel or inhumane treatment of domestic animals. Second, animals are protected from mistreatment by civil laws, which differ from criminal laws in their enforcement, scope, and penalties. Lastly, the Texas legislature recently passed in 2001 a set of laws that governs the keeping of dangerous wild animals. Together, these laws dictate what actions constitute cruelty, prescribe the potential punishments that can be inflicted, outline available defenses, and address what happens to an animal that has been cruelly treated.
However, Texas criminal cruelty laws are surprisingly narrow and only apply to any “domesticated living creature or any wild living creature previously captured.†What this means is that criminal cruelty laws protect livestock and animals that are in custody, like everyday household pets, but they do not provide any protection for animals that fall outside this narrow definition. Wild animals include deer, rabbits, squirrels, birds, or any other animal over which no one has custody. Additionally, a recent court decision in Waco, Texas, further narrowed the scope of these criminal cruelty laws by holding that a homeless cat who was beaten with a baseball and killed was not protected under the law. Although the cat had been named and cared for by a woman, the court deemed the cat wild, and thus unprotected by the criminal statutes, because he had not been technically captured. Critics have voiced their concerns over the controversial decision and the unjustified narrow scope of the law in general.
Under Texas criminal laws, the intentional or knowingly cruel treatment of animals is expressly prohibited. Therefore, accidental or negligent actions cannot be prosecuted under the cruelty statutes. Because intent and knowledge may be hard to prove during a trial, the courts have allowed juries to rely on circumstantial evidence surrounding the cruelty offense. For example, in a case involving the torture of a cat, the jury was allowed to rely on evidence that cat hair was found in the microwave, which helped them convict the defendant. In another example involving the starvation of animals, the presence of numerous emaciated animals on the property helped demonstrate that the ranch owner knew of the animals’ physical conditions. Cruel treatment can be displayed in many ways, and Texas laws define cruelty to include two general types of actions, intentional actions and failure to act. Intentional cruel actions include: (1) torturing an animal; (2) transporting or confining an animal in a cruel manner; (3) killing, seriously injuring, or poisoning an animal; (4) causing an animal to fight with another; (5) using a live animal as a lure in a dog race; (6) tripping a horse; (7) injuring an animal belonging to another; or (8) seriously overworking an animal. The state of Texas also has criminal laws that specifically prohibit dog fighting.
Cruel treatment also includes situations where a person has failed to act or failed to provide care for an animal. Failing to act or failing to provide care rises to the level of cruelty when it involves either: (1) failing to provide necessary food, care or shelter; or (2) unreasonably abandoning an animal.
[What About Wild Animals?]
Recently, in September of 2001, the Texas legislature passed a set of laws that governs the keeping of dangerous wild animals. The general idea of the statute is that a person may not own, harbor, or have custody of a dangerous wild animal for any purpose unless that person registers the animal with the county or local animal agency. The law defines “dangerous wild animal†to include animals such as lions, tigers, leopards, bears, and chimpanzees, among many others. The new laws require that every dangerous wild animal be registered in the county in which it is located. Additionally, the new laws set forth minimum requirements for keeping such animals, such as enclosure size requirements and treatment standards.
Whether this new law becomes an effective way to ensure humane treatment of wild animals remains to be seen. First, the scope of this statute is not far-reaching. The new law does not apply to entities such as research facilities, zoos, circuses, television or motion picture companies, college mascots, or primates used in biomedical research. Second, some counties have not yet implemented nor administered the certification program required by these new laws despite the fact that such programs were statutorily required to be in effect by December 1, 2001. Recently, the Texas Attorney General issued an opinion that clarifies the duties each county has in establishing registration programs for dangerous wild animals. Specifically, each county in Texas has two options: it can choose to entirely prohibit the ownership of dangerous wild animals, or it must establish a registration program to ensure that these animals are contained and cared for in a proper manner. Whether county authorities will comply with this legislative and judicial mandate is yet to be seen.
.....* My mom and I pray everyday for the life, health & safety of animals. However, in my world..."Bentley's Furry Friends",
I encourage all moms & dads to my friends, to form one strong voice on our behalf!
"Bentley's Furry Friends", invite you to tell us a short story of a happy fun adventure or maybe an unfortunate event you'd like to share with friends, even share ideas or just simply say hello through a comment ...I welcome you into my world...so climb on board and become one of "Bentley's Furry Friends"... ...My parents & I hope to make this site a place all my Furry Friends can build friendships and form one strong voice against animal cruelty!
...beNtL3y
** For cruelty convictions involving depriving an animal of food or water, abandoning an animal, transporting an animal in a cruel manner, injuring someone else’s animal, and overworking an animal, the defendant will be punished with a Class A misdemeanor, which may include a fine up to $4,000, jail time up to a year, or both. If the conviction is a third offense involving these actions, the state may punish the defendant with a state jail felony. Under Texas law, a state jail felony may include jail time ranging from 180 days to 2 years and a fine up to $10,000.
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