Beebe favors tougher animal-cruelty laws

By The Associated Press

Gov. Mike Beebe said Friday that he'll try to convince opponents of stricter animal cruelty laws to change their minds, but said he's uncomfortable with humane societies and other private groups having arrest power.

Beebe said he tends to favor a first-offense felony animal-cruelty law, although he has to review previous failed legislation to say which measure he definitely supports.

"I believe reasonable people can understand a tough, strict and fair animal cruelty law that doesn't adversely affect animal husbandry and normal livestock practices and doesn't impact hunting and fishing and things that most Arkansans enjoy can be fashioned and focused so you actually target those folks who are cruel to animals," Beebe told reporters.

Currently, the crime is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

The governor, who has a pet German shepherd named Mosel, was asked Wednesday during his call-in television program about Arkansas Farm Bureau opposition to the legislation. The Farm Bureau has opposed legislation in the past but favored an alternative bill in the 2007 legislative session.

Beebe said Friday he didn't know if he would support something similar to the Farm Bureau legislation. In general, he said, he was uncomfortable with giving arrest power to animal rescue volunteers, which is included in current law.

A House bill backed by the Farm Bureau last year would have required those arrests be made in the company of a law enforcement officer. A Senate bill opposed by the farmers' group would have added that same requirement for felony arrests.

"That's something I've never really been keen on, the power of arrest for private individuals," Beebe said. "The power of arrest usually is with law enforcement agencies."

A spokesman for Beebe later said the governor was not specifically proposing repealing state law giving animal rescue volunteers arrest powers.

"He has no formal proposals right now. "This is just a philosophical idea that it can change and be fair to everyone involved," Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said.

During the 2007 session, Sen. Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville, sponsored a bill to make first-offense animal cruelty a felony. The bill would have made cruelty to dogs or cats a Class D felony, punishable by up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Rep. Rick Saunders, D-Hot Springs, sponsored a Farm Bureau-favored alternative to make animal cruelty a felony only on the second offense within five years.

Neither bill received final legislative approval. Both proposals included exemptions for researchers, veterinarians euthanizing animals and anyone who may kill an animal believed to be a danger.

During the session, Beebe's office said he would sign whichever animal cruelty bill reached his desk but never said which one he preferred.

Madison plans to introduce a revised measure in the 2009 legislative session that would remove a provision the Farm Bureau complained about that allows someone to be charged with a felony if that person committed animal cruelty in front of a child.

For more information see Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.