‘Torture and abuse.’ KY bill would allow veterinarians to report harm to animals
Every year since 2007, Kentucky had finished dead last in a ranking of state animal-protection laws.
Until this year. The state moved up to 47th in the latest ranking by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, based on the legislature’s move to outlaw sex with animals.
The analysis by ALDF lauded the state for the 2019 law, which requires people convicted of bestiality to give up their animals; bars them from owning or being around animals for at least five years after getting out of prison; and requires them to receive psychological treatment.
Kentucky still finished low in the organization’s latest report, however, and one key reason is that veterinarians — without a waiver, subpoena or court order — can’t report suspected abuse of an animal brought in by a client.
Kentucky is the only state where vets are barred from reporting suspected animal abuse to animal control officers or police.
The ban “certainly makes Kentucky a dramatic outlier” in the United States, said David Rosengard, a senior staff attorney with ALDF.
There are efforts underway in this year’s legislative session to change that.
The measure that has made the most progress is Senate Bill 21, sponsored by Sen. C.B. Embry Jr., a Republican from Morgantown.
It would allow veterinarians to make good-faith reports of suspected abuse of animals under their care and shield the veterinarians from liability.
“It’s aimed at people who torture and abuse animals,” Embry said.
The Senate Agriculture Committee approved the bill Feb. 4.
House Bill 60, with Rep. Regina Huff, R-Williamsburg, as the primary sponsor, would require a vet who suspected abuse of an animal brought in by a client to notify an animal control officer and would protect the vet from liability for a good-faith report.
HB 108, filed by Rep. Cherlynn Stevenson, a Lexington Democrat, would protect vets from lawsuits and prosecution for making good-faith reports about suspected animal abuse and for providing records and testimony.
However, those bills have been stuck in a House committee since early January with no action.
Animal abusers are likely to harm people
The initial version of SB 21 would have required vets to report suspected abuse, but the committee amended the measure to allow reporting, not require it.
Embry stressed that he introduced the bill at the request of constituents, not for animal-welfare groups that rankle some legislators.
When vets can’t report suspected abuse, it might mean inhumane treatment of a dog, cat or other animal continues, Rosengard said.
“There’s some sort of cruelty going on for which there’s no intervention,” he said.
Supporters of the veterinary-reporting bills point out there also is a link between abuse of animals and domestic violence and child abuse, meaning a vet could help protect people by reporting abuse of an animal.
“This is really a public health situation,” Jim Weber, who is on the board of the Kentucky Veterinary Medical Association (KVMA), told state senators. “We might be able to help in a situation where domestic violence is going on.”
Abusers target pets to coerce and punish the people they’re abusing, according to the National Link Coalition.
Nearly 90 percent of families in child-abuse investigations reported animal cruelty — mostly by a man — and 71 percent of battered women said their attacker had “harmed, killed or threatened animals to coerce, control and intimidate them,” according to the coalition.
The issue is important enough that the FBI began tracking information on animal abuse several years ago.
There have also been cases in which people hurt animals so they could get pain drugs from a veterinarian, according to the KVMA.
The KVMA supports the proposals to allow vets to report potential abuse, said Bonnie Barr, a Lexington equine veterinarian who is president of the organization.
Being able to report suspected abuse would be in keeping with the oath vets take to prevent and relieve animal suffering, said supporters.
Some compared the situation to pediatricians and teachers reporting suspected abuse of children.
“They would like to be able to do right by the animal and in some cases the family, if there is some domestic violence,” Barr said of Kentucky veterinarians.
Vet: 1 animal saved makes law worthwhile
Some members of the Senate Agriculture Committee raised a concern about how the measure could affect farmers.
Chairman Paul Hornback, R-Shelbyville, said there would be changes to the bill to make it acceptable to farm interests. The bill was sent back to his committee Wednesday for more work.
Barr said she didn’t think the measure would affect livestock management.
Sen. Robin Webb, D-Grayson, voted against the bill in committee earlier this month, saying if a veterinarian committed a violation serious enough to warrant suspending or revoking his or her license, the law shouldn’t provide immunity.
Several veterinarians said it’s unlikely that they would have a frequent need to to report suspected abuse if SB 21 becomes law.
Many people wouldn’t take an animal they intentionally hurt to the vet, though supporters said someone else in the family could seek treatment for the animal.
Even if there was just one case in a vet’s career, however, the law would be worthwhile, said Chris Albert, a veterinarian in Bullitt County.
“I think it’s of great importance that we become allowed to report animal abuse to the authorities to investigate,” Albert said.
KVMA officers said veterinarians likely would use the law sparingly. Reporting potential abuse would cost a vet clients, and could put the vet’s license in jeopardy if there was no good-faith basis for the report, they said.
“It’s a responsibility we won’t take lightly,” Barr said.
This story was originally published February 27, 2020 at 10:12 AM.
