0-for-2 Today. Arkansas Rejects Animal Cruelty Bill 

March 21, 2001 Little Rock, Arkansas, USA

Not to be bested by the Kansas Senate Committee's disappointing show today, the Arkansas House Judiciary Committee has also rejected a bill that would make a felony offense of the deliberate torture of a dog, cat or horse.

Arkansas HB2442 failed to win the required 11 votes to gain approval in today's legislative session.  The bill was only preferred by a 9-to-5 margin.

"Six years in jail is a long time to put a man in jail for killing a horse," said Mack Hayden, chairman of the Farm Bureau Equine Committee and one of the bill's staunch opponents.

The proposed six-year maximum jail sentence would replace the current one-year maximum under Arkansas law.

State Representative Jim Wood of Tupelo has been pushing for animal cruelty measures for quite some time.  Like HB2442, his previous proposal HB1431 was killed by the Farm Bureau, when they argued that such legislation would interfere with common farming practices, such as the slaughter and castration of livestock.

The Farm Bureau had apparently misunderstood that HB1431 applied only to domestic animals.

Arkansas has had an uncommonly high rate of animal cruelty offenses recently, including horse-stabbings, puppy-burnings and a kitten thrown from a moving car.

March 28, 2001 UPDATE: Bill Not Dead Yet?

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