Mass. Animals: Stiffer Penalties for Cruelty; Reporting Sea Turtles

By Charlene Aresenault

Senate Passes Animal Bill That Strengthens Penalties for Animal Abuse

Sen. Michael Moore, D-Millbury, who co-sponsored the act known as PAWS, announced on his Facebook page that the act has passed. The modified act strengthens penalties in Massachusetts for animal abuse. “I am proud to have co-sponsored this important piece of animal welfare legislation,” he wrote.

The act, which you can read here, increases the fines for those convicted of animal cruelty to $5,000 from $2,5000, and imprisonment from two and a half years to five years.

Lawmakers Can’t Vote on Extreme Animal Confinement Bill

On Aug. 1, the Massachusetts legislative session ended. And, “Despite overwhelming support from voters, lawmakers were not given the opportunity to vote on the bill to ban the extreme confinement of farm animals,” wrote Wayne Pacelle, President & CEO of The Humane Society of the United States in an email to supporters.

Sponsored by Sen. Jason Lewis, Bill H.145188, is “legislation to impose a penalty for the confinement of farm animals in a manner that does not allow them to turn around freely, lie down, stand up, and fully extend their limbs.”

“While this development is deeply disappointing, our campaign to protect Massachusetts farm animals will not slow down,” said Pacelle in the letter. “We’ve built a terrific coalition of animal advocates like you, along with environmental and food safety groups, farmers, veterinarians and more. We’re strategizing our next steps and we’ll be in touch in the coming months. Thank you for all you’ve done so far, and we look forward to celebrating with you when farm animals have the protections they deserve.”

State Officials Urge Boaters to Report Entangled Sea Turtles

Last week, officials from the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game urged boaters to start reporting any entangled leatherback sea turtles they may spot while out on the water immediately to the Marine Animal Entanglement Hotline at 800-900-3622 or by hailing the Coast Guard on Channel 16.

“Leatherback sea turtles are an endangered species that inhabit northern waters seasonally and are now present off the Massachusetts coastline,” said DFG Commissioner Mary Griffin in a press release. “For the safety of both turtles and people, boaters should contact the Disentanglement Hotline immediately and not attempt to disentangle turtles themselves.”

The Massachusetts Sea Turtle Disentanglement Network documented 11 entanglements this year so far. Unfortunately, said the release, many of these cases were not properly addressed due to lack of prompt reporting or disentanglement attempts by untrained boaters. The Marine Animal Entanglement Response team operates a 24-hour rapid response network to react to these entanglements.

Animal Welfare Group Issues Endorsements

Massachusetts Voters for Animals has begun to make its endorsements for candidates running in the fall’s state elections. So far, its endorsements of those candidates they feel are supportive of animal issues are:

For State Senate: Patricia Jehlen; Sonia Chang Diaz; Kathleen O’Connor-Ives, Jason Lewis

State Representatives: Brian Mannal; Paul Heroux; Denise Andrews; Josh Cutler; Marjorie Decker; Sean Garballey; Linda Dean Campbell

Massachusetts Voters for Animals (formerly Humane USA-Massachusetts), as posted on its website, is a political action committee (PAC). It is the nonpartisan political arm of the animal protection movement in Massachusetts.