Jenny’s Blog

Why is Utah so Animal-Unfriendly?

Thursday, October 4th, 2007 |

I was reading the news today, and the more I read, the more disturbed I became. There were several stories about animal abuse or neglect, and it really made me sad reading about them.

One story was about a Utah animal control officer that picked up someone’s pet cat, and instead of bringing it to animal control, he released it into the wild. He said he didn’t want it to be euthanized, however, the owner is frantically looking for it because it was never brought to the shelter, and she has no idea where it could be. If the officer had brought the cat to the shelter, the owner would have had 3 days to claim it. Instead, she has no idea where it is. All this officer received was a reprimand. Shame on Utah Animal Control.

Any animal lover knows that releasing a domestic animal into the wild to “free it” knows that it is only being given a death sentence. Domestic animals do not have the skills needed to survive on their own - they don’t know how to battle the weather, predators, or anything else.

Another horrific story I read today was about a horse that was found by its owner - dead as a result of 50 gunshot wounds. It suffered horribly and died a terrible death, all because someone used it as target practice. This is a disturbing and disgusting occurrence, and the perpetrators should be punished by the maximum penalty.

One thing that bothers me, however, is the resistance of Utah lawmakers to pass Henry’s Law, which would impose a mandatory minimum sentence for first time animal abusers, and felonies for second time abusers. I don’t understand why this hasn’t gone through. Studies have shown a strong correlation between people that abuse animals and people that abuse other people. We need to put an end to this animal abuse for good. Utah - wake up. It’s time to help the helpless, and stop animal abuse.

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