Farm Bureau kills Arkansas felony cruelty bill–again
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2001:
AUSTIN, LITTLE ROCK, ST. PAUL–A bill by Arkansas state representative Jim Wood (D-Tupelo) to make Arkansas the 32nd state to punish especially heinous cruelty to animals as a felony cleared the state house judiciary committee 11-7 on January 30, but was killed by the full house on February 2, 21-66. Though Wood himself is a farmer, the bill was vehemently opposed by the Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation.
As with Wood’s first attempt to pass a felony cruelty bill, in 1999, Farm Bureau lobbyists argued that exemptions for “routinely accepted livestock, poultry, or aquaculture management practices or routinely accepted animal husbandry practices” were not strong enough.
Similar bills have been introduced this year in Minnesota, by state senator Don Betold (DFL-Fridley) and Texas, by state representative Manny Najera (D-El Paso).
