New bills aim to boost animal welfare and track cruelty cases
The animal shelter, collaborating with Assemblymember Jen Lunsford are introducing two animal protection bills in the New York State Assembly.
The first designates animal welfare agencies with SPCA's 'qualified agencies,' helping to improve coordination with federal law enforcement, and enhancing the tracking of individuals who commit acts of cruelty.
The second would establish the crime of endangering the welfare of an animal in two degrees.
'What we're finding is that when someone is found with multiple instances of animal cruelty, we don't have a harsh enough penalty to deal with what that really means,' Lunsford said Thursday. 'So, we wanted to give the judges more discretion to assess a situation and decide if someone needs a harsher penatly.'
New Yorkers can voice their support for these bills: A-1609 and A-6602 by visiting the New York State Senate Website.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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