EC looks to make animal abuse registry

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Erie County lawmakers want to create a registry that would list convicted animal abusers.

The registry's search engine would function similarly to the sex offender registry. A convicted animal abuser would be required to register and wouldn't be allowed to own a dog, cat, or horse for up to five years. Wednesday was the second public hearing on the proposal.

Erie County Legislator Terry McCracken proposed the animal abuse registry legislation, which would require an offender to register or face a fine. It would also make it mandatory for places selling animals to search the registry.

While Erie County SPCA Director Barbara Carr is pleased Erie County may be taking a stand against animal abuse, she has her concerns about this law.

"In the case of animal hoarders for instance, which is most of our case load, it is not considered wise to take all animals away from an animal hoarder. If you do you will have 100 percent recidivism," she explained.

Carr says someone could easily abuse again by crossing over into another county, and it adds to their workload.

"We would have to contact the registry about 8,000 times a year. I figured this morning if that only took three minutes, that's 10 weeks of a full-time employee," Carr said.

Veterinarian Susan Persico would like to a see a national registry because she's dealt with animal abusers who continue to get more pets.

"It makes you want to cry," she said. "They give you reasons that 'this happened,' that are patently ridiculous when you find shag carpeting stuck on a cat's feet because it's been held to a stove. You can feel their pain. It's just heartbreaking."

Carr also pointed out that when many animal abusers are sentenced they aren't allowed to own animals for a period of time. McCracken says those are state laws and lawmakers want to have something at the county level to protect pets.