THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 23, 1997 TAG: 9702230225
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY JEFFREY S. HAMPTON, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: 87 lines
Upset by the sight of a man dragging his dog through the streets behind his pickup, peeling off the animal's skin, local animal rights advocates are clamoring for stiffer penalties against people who abuse their pets.
``One of the frustrating circumstances in this case is the fact that the man who has been charged with this offense will be guilty of no more than a misdemeanor if he is convicted,'' wrote Pasquotank County SPCA President Ruth Vedra in two separate letters to the County Commission and City Council. ``This needs to be changed.''
Vedra urged officials to pass a resolution urging state lawmakers to make cruelty to animals a felony rather than a misdemeanor. The county and city are considering the proposal and plan to submit it to state Rep. W.C. ``Bill'' Owens, D-Pasquotank, according to County Manager Randy Keaton.
But Owens said the best option is to have a statewide organization request the law change through the House judicial committee. A law cannot be changed from misdemeanor to a felony on a local level, he said. The judicial committee would have to study the issue and submit legislation in the next session.
``That's what I would recommend for it to have a chance of passing,'' said Owens.
Owens said the maximum misdemeanor sentence of $1,000 fine and one year in jail sounds severe enough.
``This is a cruel and terrible thing to happen to a dog, but we have a lot of other bad things happen, too,'' said Owens. ``We've got to look at in context.''
The dragged-dog incident has drawn attention all the way to the Humane Society of the United States in Washington, D.C.
``It certainly seems like the number of cruelty cases is increasing and the severity is shocking,'' said Ann Church, with the society's Government Affairs Department.
Sheriff's deputies charged Thomas P. Harris Jr., 17, with cruelty to an animal Feb. 2 after he allegedly dragged his dog several hundred yards down Ehringhaus Street. Deputies said the man had leashed the dog to back bumper of his pickup truck, and the dog fell out while the man drove.
Harris told police he did not notice that the dog had fallen out and did not hear the dog yelping. An angry group of people confronted Harris when he stopped. Three days later, after attempts to save the dog were futile, a veterinarian euthanized him.
``He was so hurt,'' said Joyce McCollum, a full-time employee at the Pasquotank County Animal Shelter. ``He was a sweet, sweet dog. It was really heartbreaking.''
McCollum said animal abuse seems to be getting worse here. She has seen animals suffering cruelties ranging from starvation to severe wounds from organized dog fighting. McCollum recently had a dog euthanized that had worn the same collar since it was a puppy. The collar had grown into its throat.
``We get calls daily about mistreated animals,'' said McCollum. ``It's bad. It's truly bad.''
Pasquotank County Sheriff Randy Cartwright arrested only two people on charges of animal cruelty last year, but it is hard to pin down perpetrators, he said.
Cartwright also supports stiffer laws.
``When an animal is intentionally mutilated or hurt,'' Cartwright said, ``yes, I think there needs to be stricter laws.'' He said the cruelty laws could mirror assault statutes, under which serious offenses are felonies and minor offenses are misdemeanors.
``Misdemeanors are not worth the manpower,'' said Deitrich Haugwitz, education director for the North Carolina Network for Animals. ``When something's a felony, that's quite different.''
The group says 17 states have felony provisions for animal cruelty. Laws in North Carolina are some of the most lenient, according to the network, carrying a maximum fine of $1,000 and a maximum sentence of one year.
Conversely, the maximum penalty for cruelty to animals in Louisiana is 10 years of hard labor, the toughest penalty in the nation, the group says. Ironically, Louisiana still allows cockfighting. Oregon has the highest maximum fine in the country for animal cruelty, $100,000, the group says.
Animal advocates point to studies and FBI statistics that indicate people who severely abuse animals are often violent toward people. FBI profiles show that famous serial killers such as Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy had histories of mistreating animals.
``While not everyone who abuses animals will become a serial killer; virtually every serial killer first abused animals,'' wrote Dr. Randall Lockwood, psychologist and vice president of the Humane Society.
North Carolina is only one of seven states in which dog fighting is still a misdemeanor. As a result, dog fight organizers are rapidly moving to North Carolina, said Church, with the Humane Society in Washington.
``It looks set that this legislature will make dog fighting a felony,'' said Nancy Rich, president of North Carolina Justice For Animals, based in Raleigh. ``But that does not affect the cruelty law. I wish it were a felony. This is what we would really like to see.''