Senator works on animal cruelty laws
Idaho lawmaker hopes to expand application of felony charges
TWIN FALLS - Sen. Tim Corder of Mountain Home is working with animal advocacy groups and agriculture industry officials to create an animal cruelty law in Idaho that would lead to felony charges for offenders.
The Republican lawmaker said he is also working on a second bill concerning confined animal feeding operations that will find a balance between raising animals and humane treatment of the animals.
"I believe the issue is just more complex than dogs and fighting," Corder, who formed an informal task force, told The Times-News. "It needs to encompass everything it should've encompassed."
The Animal Legal Defense Fund, an animal rights group, in 2008 named Idaho as one of the worst states in the nation for laws against animal cruelty, citing inadequate laws covering animal fighting, and a lack of restrictions on what becomes of animals owned by people convicted of cruelty.
The Legislature in 2008 made dog fighting a felony, but Idaho remains among a handful of states without a felony penalty for a broad cruelty law.
Lisa Kauffman, Idaho director for the Humane Society of the United States, said new laws could begin with dogs, cats and horses.
In the agriculture industry, she said there are few poultry or swine operations where space constraints are a concern in the state, but she's hoping some kind of bill can be created.
"We fully support farmers raising animals, but we support it in a humane way," she said. "If worse comes to worse, we would bring a ballot initiative down the road, but Idaho is not one of the states that the HSUS is looking at right now."
For a law regarding humane treatment of animals in confined feeding operations, Corder said the Idaho State Department of Agriculture would define the appropriate care for production and manage the space requirements for animals.
"We support good animal husbandry, yet good agricultural production as well," said Wally Butler, a lobbyist for the Idaho Farm Bureau, which is involved in the discussions on the new bills.
