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Arkansas governor favors tougher animal-cruelty lawLITTLE ROCK (AP)--Gov. Mike Beebe says he will try to convince opponents of efforts to toughen animal cruelty laws to change their minds. Beebe says he tends to favor a first-offense felony animal-cruelty law, although he has to review the previous failed legislation to say which measure he definitely supports. Currently, the crime is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. The governor, who has a pet German shepherd named Mosel, was asked recently during his call-in television program about Arkansas Farm Bureau opposition to the legislation. The Farm Bureau has opposed legislation in the past but favored an alternative bill in the 2007 legislative session. "I think there is a lot of misunderstanding. I think there is a fear out there that some wild-eyed prosecutor is going to prosecute someone for typical animal husbandry practices when it comes to cattle or pigs or traditional farm animals," Beebe told the caller. "Proponents have been quite clear they want the law aimed at dogs and cats and horses outside the usual livestock and poultry." Beebe said he favors a tougher animal-cruelty bill, "but I'm not 100 percent committed on details." During the 2007 session, Sen. Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville, sponsored a bill to make first-offense animal cruelty a felony. The bill would have made cruelty to dogs or cats a Class D Felony, punishable by up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Rep. Rick Saunders, D-Hot Springs, sponsored a Farm Bureau-favored alternative to make animal cruelty a felony only on the second offense within five years. Neither bill received final legislative approval. Madison says she plans to introduce a revised measure in the 2009 legislative session that would remove a provision the Farm Bureau complained about that allows someone to be charged with a felony if that person committed animal cruelty in front of a child. 4/28/08 Date: 4/24/08
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