Idaho Lawmakers Consider Animal Cruelty Bill

BOISE, ID – Idaho’s House of Representatives will soon vote on an animal cruelty bill.  House lawmakers in charge of agriculture backed legislation today that calls for penalties on people who torture pets.  The first two violations would be misdemeanors.  A third would be a felony.  Republican Representative Gayle Batt from Wilder has trouble with the bill.  She says, “Philosophically, I’m just really struggling with what to do with this legislation when we have abuse of children as misdemeanors and then we have for animals a felony.”  Child abuse can be considered a misdemeanor in Idaho in some cases.   Idaho is one of three states that do not have felony penalties for animal abuse according to the Animal Legal Defense Fund.