Health, Wellness and Fitness for People & Pets JUNE 2015 | Page 51

ANIMAL ABUSE AND… CHILD MALTREATMENT
Child Abuse Risk Cited in Animal Abuse Legislation

Citing the likelihood that children’s welfare will be compromised by
animal abuse and animal fighting, the Tennessee General Assembly
has enacted two measures that will establish what is believed to be
the nation’s first statewide animal abuser registry and increase
penalties for bringing a child to an animal fight.

SB 1204 overwhelmingly passed the Senate and was signed by Gov. Bill
Haslam on May 8. The measure will create a statewide registry of
animal abuse offenders, much like existing sex offender registries.
“I can say that every animal fighting prosecution that I have personally
handled has begun as an investigation into a crime against a child,”
Sullivan County Assistant District Attorney Julie Canter told News
Channel 11 in Johnson City. “We have only discovered the animal
fighting allegations secondarily to either child sex abuse allegations or
child pornography allegations.
“So, the two are linked. There is a real evidentiary chain between crimes against children and crimes
against animals,” she said. The measure “would be helpful in assessing other crimes.”
Animal abusers demonstrate “a pattern, and they carry it over to anything that is helpless,” added
animal shelter Director Debbie Dobbs. “They will take it out on an animal first and then they’ll move
forward. And a child or the elderly are the next step because they can’t defend themselves.”
The Tennessee Animal Abuser Registration Act, slated to take effect Jan. 1, 2016