Update Mar. 3: Once again, the Mississippi legislature has failed to create a felony penalty for animal cruelty. Senate Bill 2623 which had passed the state senate, died in a House committee. The bill is dead for this session.

Mississippi remains one of four states including Idaho, South Dakota and North Dakota, in which animal cruelty is not a felony no matter the circumstances. 

For more on this, read Animal Law Coalition's report below.    

Original report: By a vote of 47-1, the Mississippi state senate has approved Senate Bill 2623 which would create a felony penalty for the worst acts of animal cruelty. 

S.B. 2623 creates the crime of aggravated animal cruelty which makes it a felony for anyone acting with malice, "to...torture, mutilate, maim, burn, starve, disfigure or kill any domesticated dog or cat". 

Penalties 

The penalty could be up to 5 years in prison, and an abuser would be required to spend at least 1 year in jail. Fines would range from $1,500 to $10,000. 

Signficantly, a court could also order an abuser to pay restitution not only to the owner but also to law enforcement, animal control and humane societies "for the costs of investigation, sheltering, transporting, rehabilitation and other costs directly related to the case". A court could order an abuser to undergo a psychiatric or psychological evaluation and, if appropriate, counseling or treatment. The abuser could also be ordered to stay away from animals for any period deemed appropriate by the court. Abusers who are allowed to keep animals could be subject to periodic inspections to ensure the animal is safe and receiving appropriate care. 

There are a number of exemptions including for "accepted animal husbandry practices", slaughter, lawful animal research, animals regulated by the Animal Welfare Act which includes commercial dog and cat and other companion animal breeders and dealers, animals used for research, and animal exhibitors like circuses, zoos and the like; rodeos, "equine activit[ies]", and other competitive events and exhibitions; training and using dogs for hunting, pest control, branding and other animal identification methods, and activities regulated by the state wildlife department, including trapping, hunting, fishing, and "wildlife management". There is also an exemption for defense against "economic injury".

Efforts to make the worst animal cruelty a felony have failed in Mississippi in the past. Indeed, a bill introduced this year in the state House of Representatives, H.B. 943, died in committee. That bill would have made it a felony punishable by a fine of $1,500-$10,000 and imprisonment from 6 months to 5 years for  "maliciously, either out of a spirit of revenge or wanton cruelty, or ...mischievously" commits or causes someone else to "torture, mutilate, starve, disfigure, burn, kill, maim or wound, or unjustifiably injure any dog or cat". The bill stated, however, that if any person committed these acts, except burn or disfigure, with the lesser intent of "knowingly or with criminal negligence", it would still be a misdemeanor.

WHY ANIMAL CRUELTY SHOULD BE A FELONY

Tell your Mississippi legislators that by virtually condoning egregious animal cruelty, they are enabling these offenders to go on to commit domestic violence and other violent crimes. There is a well-established link between animal cruelty and violence to people.

In one study 71% of women in a battered women's shelter reported their abuser either abused a household pet or threatened to abuse a pet. (Ascione, 1998)  

In another study 88% of child abusers also abused the animals in the home. (Ascione) 

In a study by Dr. Jacquelyn Campbell, Public Health Department, the Johns Hopkins University from 1994 to 2000 in eleven USA metropolitan cities, pet abuse was one of the four significant predictors for determining who was at highest risk for becoming a batterer. Many abused spouses delay leaving out of fear for their pets' safety and because they have nowhere to take them.

 70% of animal abusers were found in one 20 year study to have then committed other crimes, and 44% went on to harm people. (Arluke, A. & Luke, C. 1997).

In another study 99% of animal abusers had convictions for other crimes. (Clarke, J. P. 2002). In that same study it was found 100% of people who committed sexual homicide had abused animals. (Clarke, J. P. 2002). That study also revealed 61.5% of animal abusers had assaulted a human as well. (Clarke, J. P. 2002).

63.3% of inmates in a prison study who were in for violent crimes admitted to abusing animals. This doesn't include the ones who didn't admit it. (Schiff Louw Ascione, 1999)

Police have found animal abuse is a better predictor of whether someone will commit sexual assault than previous convictions for murder or arson. (Clarke, J. P. 2002).

Animal abuse laws are as much about recognizing the danger to people from animal abusers as these laws are about protecting animals. Help give prosecutors the tools they need to stop animal abusers. The lives of humans as well as animals depend on it.