Poll: Should Maryland Have an Animal Abuse Registry?

Wayne Monroe January 21, 2012 at 05:55 pm

This guy makes the case for a state legislature where the members stay home and report to Annapolis on a per diem basis to address serious issues. Of course, this idea calls for a reduction in pay also.

CAW21227 January 22, 2012 at 11:03 am

I don't know what the above comment is referring to but animal abuse is a serious issue that our legislators should be addrressing so I am happy to see this proposal from Mr Young
I am surprised that there are only two comments on the subject, one of them being cryptic. I find it hard to believe that people are more concerned about what store replaces the Superfresh than they are about animal abuse.

Wayne Monroe January 22, 2012 at 11:08 am

I happen to be a small animal lover and a cat owner and I fail to see how such a register will prevent some subhuman from tossing a dog from a balcony or as I once witnessed, off a bridge. This delegate simply wants to get his name in the paper. Helps with name recognition at election time.

Amy Bopp January 22, 2012 at 01:19 pm

This is a sticky subject. People who love animals and people who do not love animals may find themselves at odds. What about the person who sets out fresh food and water for feral animals...will they become accused abusers? How will the determination be made?

Gina January 22, 2012 at 02:30 pm

I do believe that there should be some sort of registry. I am an animal advocate and work with several rescues a cross the county and we share the names of known abusers amongst ourselves to make sure people are aware. Such as a few months ago there was a gentleman from NYC that was accused and prosecuted for adopting kittens from shelters and craigslist and abusing them and killing them. He was staying in MD for a while and tried to adopt a kitten from BARCS but because a volunteer from BARCS was already aware of his name and pic through word of mouth and social networks he was not able to adopt that kitten. His picture and name and info was posted on facebook over and over I even saw shelters in Cali reposting it. If there was some sort of registry that allowed a quick look up of an individual before they were allowed to adopt we would have to rely on word of mouth or social media for situations like this. Luckily this volunteer at BARCS was aware but that doesn't mean one of the tons of people on Craigslist giving away free kittens was. This should be something the public has as well. Anyone convicted in MD of abusing an animal does show up on the MD Judiciary website and it does list animals abuse so their record is already public but most people don't know that even exists.

Terry January 22, 2012 at 06:22 pm

A registry for animal abuse is a great! Abusing animals is the beginning, then it progresses to child abuse and murder. Make no mistake to abuse and torture an innocent animal with no remorse and feeling takes a cruel emotionless person on the road to worse things. Check the statistics. GOOD LUCK Sen Young!!!!