Starting Next Year The FBI Will Add Animal Cruelty Cases To National Crime Report

The Federal Bureau of investigation announced this week that it will start reporting crimes of animal cruelty - intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly taking an action that mistreats or kills any animal without just cause, such as torturing, tormenting, mutilation, maiming, poisoning, or abandonment.

The FBI will treat animal cruelty  as a separate offense under its uniform reporting system, leading the way for more comprehensive statistics on animal abuse.

Previously, crimes against animals were recorded under a generic “all other offense” category in the Uniform Crime Report, widely considered the most comprehensive source of crime statistics in the United States.

More recently, social media sites have provided platforms for caught-on-tape exposés and forums focused on publicly shaming animal abusers. The proliferation of such online venues has helped fuel the outrage of many Americans.

The Humane Society, the Animal Welfare Institute Program and the Animal Legal Defense Fund were among the groups to laud FBI Director James B. Comey's decision to include animal cruelty as a distinct category on the annual index, the nation's prime source for US crime information.

Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, wrote on his blog on Wednesday, "No longer will extremely violent cases be included in the 'other offense' category simply because the victims were animals."

Included are:

• Instances of duty to provide care, e.g., shelter, food, water, care if sick or injured;
• Transporting or confining an animal in a manner likely to cause injury or death;
• Causing an animal to fight with another;
• Inflicting excessive or repeated unnecessary pain or suffering, e.g., uses objects to beat or injure an animal.

This definition does not include proper maintenance of animals for show or sport or use of animals for food, lawful hunting, fishing or trapping.

Before establishing the special category, there was no easy way to track the number of animal cruelty cases in the US But high-profile cases ranging from NFL quarterback Michael Vick's illegal dog fighting ring to a puppy-kicking episode implicating Desmond Hague, the former CEO of a sports catering company that provides services to several NFL teams, have helped shine a national spotlight on the issue.

The issue is a national problem, while cruelty cases occurring in all 50 states.



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Michael Vick's Comedy Explosion Draws Protestors

Michael Vick's comedy tour came to Shreveport's Strand Theatre but there was also a show outside, two groups staging two different protests.

Emily Daye started the animal rights facebook protest against Vick and said, "I couldn't believe my ears when I heard that Michael Vick was coming to The Strand. When I verified that it was true I felt like I had to do something so I started the page and the response has been overwhelming."

Vick plead guilty to dog fighting charges in 2007 and was sentenced to 23 months in prison.

Dorian Ford, leader of the Michael Vick Forgiveness Rally said, "I do not uphold what he did at all, however, I do stand strongly for forgiveness."

Ford says Vick has paid his debt to society and stopping Vick from performing would only take money away from Shreveport.

"Cruelty to animals in still a huge problem, much bigger than probably most people understand it to be and if we keep worshiping celebrities that do wrong things, specifically cruelty to animals, then what does that say to our children?", said Daye.

But Ford said "For me, for you to hate him for what you feel like he did to the dog, you feel like he showed cruelty and hate to the dog but you're doing the exact same thing to him. So the only way for you to resitute hate or to correct hate is through love and that's what we're doing. We're counteracting that hate with love."




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