Q Should penalties for cruelty to animals be increased?
The proposed new penalties for animal cruelty are clearly a step in the right direction ('Big increase in penalties for cruelty to animals', April 7). What concerns me more, however, would be the reluctance of the courts to enforce them. Even under the current law, which allows for a maximum fine of $5,000 and a maximum jail sentence of six months, out of the 26 convictions that were secured between January 2004 and September last year, only two people were jailed, each for less than one month, and the others were fined an average of only $1,292. It seems that primarily it's not the law that is wrong but soft magistrates who don't hand down maximum fines and sentences.
Animals deserve protection from cruelty. Where humans choose to include animals in human society and in their families, animals deserve to be protected from human violence. Animal abusers should be brought to justice to ensure that the chain of abuse ends with that animal.
It is well recognised that those who are violent to animals are often violent to humans. If someone can hurt, torture and kill defenceless creatures for amusement or an ego trip, they are the type of person who has it in them to treat their fellow human beings in the same manner. The only difference is that they know they will be answerable in that instance. Is the transition from torturing a helpless cat to torturing a helpless baby all that great?
A maximum jail sentence of one year may still be too lenient. In Alabama, the minimum penalty for felony animal cruelty is a year and a day in prison, while the maximum sentence is a 10-year jail term and a US$5,000 fine. This law was known as the Gucci Bill, inspired by a dog named Gucci which was hanged from a tree and set on fire by teenagers.
It is regrettable that our legislators feel less strongly about corresponding animal cruelty cases in Hong Kong, such as Pan Pan, the dog abandoned at a rubbish dump in Yuen Long who was just a puppy when his legs were chopped off. A 'Pan Pan Bill' along the Alabama lines may be in order.