Animal welfare advocates were in Jackson, Mississippi, on Tuesday, January 11, to express their support for a bill that would make certain instances of animal cruelty a felony in the Magnolia State.
Mississippi is one of the four states where it is not a felony to commit certain acts of animal cruelty, such as maiming a dog or torturing a cat, according to the Hattiesburg American.
Last year, a similar piece of legislation passed through the state Senate but it died in a state House committee.
Marlo Kirkpatrick, of Mississippi Fighting Animal Cruelty Together, told WLBT, an NBC affiliate, that he believes that this year the bill will get through the state legislature.
"The difference we think we have this year, we have worked all year to educate the public on the need for the bill, so we have even stronger public support than we had last year; we had very strong public support last year but that's just grown over [the] last year," he said.
The American reports that much of the opposition to last year's bill came from the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation, which reportedly has strong political influence in the state.
Mississippi is one of the four states where it is not a felony to commit certain acts of animal cruelty, such as maiming a dog or torturing a cat, according to the Hattiesburg American.
Last year, a similar piece of legislation passed through the state Senate but it died in a state House committee.
Marlo Kirkpatrick, of Mississippi Fighting Animal Cruelty Together, told WLBT, an NBC affiliate, that he believes that this year the bill will get through the state legislature.
"The difference we think we have this year, we have worked all year to educate the public on the need for the bill, so we have even stronger public support than we had last year; we had very strong public support last year but that's just grown over [the] last year," he said.
The American reports that much of the opposition to last year's bill came from the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation, which reportedly has strong political influence in the state.
No comments:
Post a Comment