Lawmakers pitch animal welfare protections

HARTFORD — On New Year’s Day, a woman reported a chilling scene: her neighbor’s pet, a 3-year-old pit bull, was frozen solid inside its dog house.

The dog’s death brought animal cruelty charges to its Hartford owner and now is motivating legislators to change the law so pet owners are required to provide their dogs with appropriate shelter.

“To know that an animal is outside starving, with no access to water and slowly dying in the cold is criminal and is mean and, to me, should be prosecuted,” said state Rep. Brenda Kupchick, R-Fairfield, Monday. “We have a moral responsibility to make sure those kinds of things do not happen.”

Kupchick and other members of the Animal Welfare Caucus will host a press conference this morning to introduce the legislation they will advocate for this session.

Kupchick, along with caucus cochairmen state Reps. Fred Camillo, R-Greenwich, and Diana Urban, DStonington, hope to add a provision about shelter for dogs in extreme heat or cold to an existing law governing the tethering of animals. The caucus has pushed for this provision before, but has not succeeded getting it passed into law.

“We are really looking for some criteria to give animal control officers some tools that they are asking for,” said Kupchick, who owns two rescued beagles, Wally and Maggie. “This Hartford case really highlighted what we were talking about.”

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., will also be advocating for new anti-animal cruelty legislation today.

At Protectors of Animals rescue shelter in East Hartford, Blumenthal and animal advocates plan to call for a House vote on the Senateapproved, bipartisan Prevent Animal Cruelty and Torture Act, which if signed into law, would be the first ever general federal anti-animal cruelty statute.

The law would outlaw “crushing,” a form of abuse in which people step on, drown, suffocate, impale or otherwise intentionally injure animals.

A statement from Blumenthal’s office Monday said, “There is a clear link between cruelty to animals and future violence against humans. It has been reported that the Parkland, Florida shooter bragged about shooting animals.”

Other state legislation proposed by the Animal Welfare Caucus uses the same “link” to suggest tougher penalties for people convicted of animal abuse and bestiality.

The organization has introduced a bill that would prohibit accelerated rehabilitation for people convicted of felony animal cruelty charges.

Kupchick noted that the FBI recognizes that cruelty to animals may be a precursor to larger crimes. In 2016, the FBI began counting acts of animal cruelty alongside felony crimes such as arson, burglary, assault and homicide in their criminal database.

Urban also added a bill that would specify bestiality as a felony crime after such a case involving a 19-year-old Bethlehem man.

Under current law bestiality is a misdemeanor crime.

The Animal Welfare Caucus will also seek to protect residents from repercussions if they try to rescue an animal from a car in extreme heat or cold. It advocates for increasing the penalty for killing or injuring a police dog, establishing a penalty for misrepresenting a guide dog, giving veterinarians decision-making authority over animal vaccination, and allowing towns to ban trapping.

Both Camillo and Kupchick noted that passing these bills in the short legislative session this spring may prove a challenge. Their press conference is intended to draw public attention to and support for their proposals.

Representatives from the Connecticut Humane Society, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Our Companions Animal Rescue and Connecticut Votes for Animals plan to join Kupchick, Camillo and Urban at the press conference Tuesday .

Jo-Anne Basile, senior adviser to Connecticut Votes for Animals, a grassroots lobbying group, said her organization collaborated with the Animal Welfare Caucus in developing these priorities for legislation.

“We are a state of compassionate people,” she said. “What we are hoping to do is continue a legacy of getting good legislation that helps animals in the state of Connecticut.”