I want to pass along this e-mail I received about a petition to make animal
cruelty a felony rather than just a misdemeanor.  The political goals of
the petition are extremely vague, and it's not clear that the petition will
directly bring about any new legislation.  However, it does seem to be
accomplishing the task of making the public more aware of the huge number
of animal abuse crimes which occur every day.  Hopefully once government
officials realize that there is growing public outrage towards these
crimes, they will start enforcing some of the laws already in their hands.
 
Julie
 
  --------
>From: Jennifer Robin Heidingsfelder <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: AR petition
>Date: Saturday, January 17, 1998 2:16 PM
>
>Did you know that in every US state, territory, and district Animal
>Cruelty is not a felony, but just a misdemeanor? That means that if a
>person were to do thousands of unthinkable kinds of acts of cruelty,
>torture and abuse upon any animal(s) (cats, dogs, birds, pigs, horses,
>etc) they would only receive littlest punishment. Is that fair?
>It's insane! Help rewrite our current laws in every state and districts
>in the US by signing the petition at the internet address below. Once
>you sign it, a copy of your statement will be sent to every legislative
>in the US. Please help.
>
> http://www.best.com/~catscape/petition.html
>
>Also: Please "forward" this message to as many other people that you
>know, so that they may also contribute their signature.
>Thanks!
 
[Moderator's note: Letting this through in view of recent posts and Spokane
incident, but in general, Animal Rights posts are not appropriate for the
FML.  BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 2191]