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PRESS RELEASE
RELEASE DATE: Immediately (August 17, 2007)
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Gene Baierschmidt
(801) 261-2919 phone

"HENRY’S BILL" TO BE HEARD IN SPECIAL SESSION, BUT NEEDS TO APPLY ON FIRST OFFENSE

The Humane Society of Utah today applauded Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. for keeping his promise to include the so-called "Henry’s Bill" - a law that would make the deliberate torture of an animal a third-degree felony - in a special session to be held on Wednesday, August 22, and the many supporters of this bill are focusing public attention on the outcome.

The key issue in this session is that the Humane Society of Utah will support the bill ONLY if it provides for felony penalties for conviction on a first-offense instance of animal torture. Some legislators who opposed the original bill have now said they will support it, but only if the law takes effect the second time an animal torturer is found guilty.

HSU Executive Director Gene Baierschmidt says, "We’re opposed to the ‘second-offense’ clause because it basically renders the bill meaningless. We feel that the chances of someone committing and being caught for an egregious act of animal torture more than once are very remote; in fact, we haven’t got a single record of a serial animal torturer in our files. In any case, a law that can’t be applied until the second time it’s broken is no law at all. If the ‘second-offense’ version of Henry’s Bill is passed, it would really be nothing but a way for the original bill’s opponents to placate the large majority of the state’s citizens who support stiffer penalties for animal torture, while essentially doing nothing to make the law stronger."

Utah is one of only eight states that does not have a felony provision for animal torture, and Mr. Baierschmidt deplores the ramifications this has for our entire culture. He points out that the bill has been specifically worded to exempt agribusiness practices, and that other agriculture-dependent states with felony provisions, like Wyoming and North Carolina, have not suffered any adverse economic effects as a result of having such legislation. He particularly emphasizes the direct, well-documented link between violence toward animals and domestic violence. "Just last week, state officials reported that domestic violence in Utah is showing a dramatic increase," said Mr. Baierschmidt. "The statistics showing a relationship between the willful abuse of ANY being less competent than the aggressor to defend itself is obvious." He cites the following statistics from recent national studies:

• 68% of battered women report violence toward their animals by their batterers

• 48% of convicted rapists have adolescent histories of animal cruelty

• 89% - that’s 89% - of convicted serial murders started out by torturing animals. Among the more notorious of these are Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and "Son of Sam"

American society as a whole is increasingly outraged by callous brutality toward helpless victims. An independent poll taken after the last legislative session showed that 74% of Utahans approved of a felony-level animal cruelty bill. The recent nationwide negative reaction to the case of Atlanta Falcons player Michael Vick for his alleged dogfighting activities is further evidence of our society’s changing attitudes - and if Vick were tried and convicted in Utah for his crimes, he would only be guilty of a misdemeanor.

It’s time Utah caught up. This Wednesday, our legislators must make "Henry’s Bill" a third-degree felony crime on the first offense.

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