Butler County Prosecutor Robin Piper, however, said that he thinks Combs’ bill “doesn’t do enough,” and should be expanded to include any instance of a juvenile involved in animal abuse — not just in connection with companion animals, like cats and dogs.
Why stop there? Perhaps it’s time that Ohio lawmakers look at a measure that is currently under consideration in California’s legislature. A bill introduced last month in California would establish an online registry for animal abusers, similar to registries that exist across the nation for sex offenders. Similar attempts to create a public animal-abuse record have failed in other states, so California’s would become the first in the nation, if the bill passes. Animal-rights advocates hope other states would then consider similar measures.
Like sex offender registries, a person convicted of animal cruelty in California would be required to register with law enforcement agencies and information about the abuser and his/her offense would be posted online, according to the New York Times. Gillian Deegan, a Virginia prosecutor, told the Times that a registry “could also be valuable in tracking people who run puppy mills and animal-fighting rings.”
“Animal abusers are cowards who take their issues out on ‘easy victims’ — and their disregard for life and indifference to suffering often carry over to their fellow humans,” Martin Mersereau, director of the emergency response team for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), wrote in a recent opinion piece on the California proposal. (Mersereau contributed a letter to the editor about the Butler County alpaca case that was published on this page last week.) “A study by Northeastern University and the Massachusetts SPCA found that people who abuse animals are five times more likely to commit violent crimes against humans.”
That same thought is obviously on the minds of local leaders and residents who have been alarmed and repulsed by the brutal and senseless beating death of the baby alpaca. Two 17-year-old boys stand accused of the crime.
We urge Rep. Combs and other lawmakers to follow the progress of the proposed California legislation and consider whether the same idea could work here. Can we make our communities safer by identifying convicted animal abusers and letting residents know where they live? That’s a question Ohio lawmakers should weigh.