We advocate on all animal protection and exploitation issues, including experimentation, factory farming, rodeos, breeders and traveling animal acts.
FROM
Lohud.com
June 8, 2018
County Department of Public Safety says it will strengthen communication after inquiries from lohud.
There was only one person listed on Westchester County’s animal abuse
registry last month, more than five years after it was established.
The searchable online database was supposed to work like a sex offender
registry, deterring repeat offenses while making sure abusers on the list
aren’t sold pets.
“That the registry isn’t being maintained is appalling,” said Kiley
Blackman, founder of the Animal Defenders of Westchester. “It’s a simple yet
very helpful tracking agent that also lets offenders know they are on a
public registry.”
The county Department of Public Safety, which maintains the list, conducted an internal review last month after inquiries from lohud about the registry. Since then, another person has been added to the registry and the department will take steps to make sure it is being notified of all convictions, according to a spokesman.
Animal abusers are more likely to eventually hurt people as well,
Blackman said. Animal abuse is linked to domestic violence and sex crimes,
experts said during hearings when lawmakers first considered creating the
registry.
When the law was first discussed, the registry was pitched as a child abuse
deterrent by the former commissioner of public safety.
The department, which includes the county police, is only one of dozens of
police or law enforcement agencies in Westchester, in addition to dozens of
courts where animal abusers can be convicted. It’s possible the county isn’t
being notified of convictions in local courts because of a lack of awareness
of the registry.
People convicted of abuse may not be trying to avoid the registry, but may
simply not know they’re required to sign up for it. At least one person
contacted by the county since lohud began asking about the registry told
police he or she wasn’t aware of a requirement to pay a fee and end up on
the registry.
But several abusers who’d paid the $50 registration fee to the county
department still never ended up on the registry.
“We have determined that there are appropriate convictions that have yet
to be posted to the animal abuse registry,” department spokesman Kieran
O’Leary told The Journal News/lohud in a recent statement. “We are working
internally to streamline the flow of information to ensure the registry is
updated in a more timely fashion moving forward.”
The first step can be as simple as sending letters to all law enforcement
agencies and courts in the county, he said. One person in the past may have
been removed from the registry when she moved out of Westchester into
Connecticut.
Kay Carucci, president of the animal rights group Building Hope, said the
lack of updates were another loophole when it came to protection of animals.
Animal abuse is under the agriculture and markets rather than the penal code
– some say moving it under the penal code would increase penalties and
improve enforcement.
“Too many animals are being abused and people are not having the
consequences,” she said.
Locally, county Legislator Virginia Perez is looking to close any loopholes.
She says that means lobbying the state over the penal code issue, and
passing stronger local laws for animal protection.
Perez, a Yonkers Democrat and owner of three dogs, is asking to draft a
new Westchester law that would strengthen requirements for owners who leave
their animals tied and outside of a home. A long in-the-works puppy mill law
should be a priority, she said.
Making sure the registry is up to date and figuring out why there doesn’t
seem to be a larger amount of abusers is something to be discussed in
legislative committees, Perez said.
“An animal is a living creature, a dog and cat is a living creature and it’s
kind of like a child – they depend on you to take care of them and to love
them for everything,” she said. “You can’t get away with doing that to a
human so why should you get away with doing that to another living
creature?"
Return to: Articles and Media Coverage
WESTCHESTER4GEESE is an adjunct of ANIMAL DEFENDERS OF WESTCHESTER. We advocate against all forms of animal abuse and exploitation, including hunting, experimentation, fur, circuses and rodeos - https://www.facebook.com/Westchester4Geese