A Serious Issue

I recently came across several articles the discussing the same proposed legislation in California.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/us/22abuse.html

http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/pets/2010-02-24-abuse24_ST_N.htm

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/pawprintpost/post/2010/02/animal-abusers-new-bill-proposes-registry-to-track-them-/1#uslPageReturn

These articles refer to the bill in California, but say that other similar legislations have been proposed in other states, including Tennessee

The Animal Legal Defense Fund has some valuable information on its website, http://exposeanimalabusers.org/article.php?list=type&type=163

I think this is a great idea. The tax on pet food to pay for it would be minimal and hardly a drop in the bucket overall. There have been multiple cases where people started out torturing animals and moved on to people. I think animal abuse is one of the worst offenses possible because animals are completely innocent. Both animals and children rely on adults to care for them, and to take advantage of an animal's innocence by overpowering and abusing it is sick. I would love to see for a bill like this to get passed in Tennessee. Sign the petition to get notification sent to your state legislators telling them you are in favor of an animal abuser registry.