Arizona parents may soon no longer have to worry about a child coming home from a carnival with a live goldfish in a bag.
Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, is proposing to make it illegal to give away any live animal as a prize. The measure, HB 2072, also would criminalize having animals used as an inducement to attract customers into any business.
Violators could end up in county jail for 30 days and have to pay a $500 fine.
He is also sponsoring HB 2073 to spell out that anyone convicted of animal abuse cannot have a pet for at least two years. And it is worded in a way so that no one in the same house could have a pet, either.
Kavanagh said it was his wife, Linda, who started getting calls about the problem in her role as mayor of Fountain Hills.
"Children were coming home with live rabbits and turtles and fish'' from a traveling carnival that had come to the community.
Kavanagh said, state law already prohibits giving away animals as prizes in games of chance.
"But it didn't mention games of skill like ring tosses and throw the baseball into the milk bucket,'' he said. "So I want to close that loophole.''
Kavanagh said the current system is not fair to animals.
"When people want a pet, they plan: They go to a pet store, they buy the appropriate accessories,'' he said. "When your child comes home at 10 o'clock at night with a rabbit, this is something which is not going to end well, for the most part.''
Kavanagh acknowledged that there might be a different argument made for goldfish as a prize, as it takes simply a bowl to keep it, versus the kind of habitat appropriate for a larger animal. But he's not willing to draw that kind of line.
"At what level of life do you want to tolerate suffering and premature death for no real, true purpose?'' he asked.
Kavanagh said it's one thing that people buy fish "and maybe they live a month or two and they die.'' That, he said, is unfortunate.
"But this type of unplanned, often unsolicited transfer of living entities, to doom them to certain death or release in the desert just seems cruel and unnecessary,'' Kavanagh said.
His other legislation is based on what he sees as a different gap in the law.
"Individuals who are convicted of animal cruelty can turn around and own animals again very shortly,'' he said.
As crafted, anyone who is convicted of a knowing or intentional act animal cruelty would be barred from adopting, fostering, owning or otherwise caring for an animal in the household. Anyone who still had an animal within 90 days of a court order could be sentenced to six months in jail and a $2,500 fine.
The measure, though, would allow someone to ask the sentencing judge to reinstate his or her rights to own an animal after two years.
Kavanagh said the move makes sense.
"You certainly wouldn't let a child molester adopt a child,'' he said.
He agreed that, as crafted, the legislation would mean that an act of cruelty by one child would mean no one in the household could have a pet, even if they were ignorant of the problem.
"If you have a child that's abusing pets, it's going to be no comfort to the abused animal that the other four family members didn't know about it,'' he said.
Tracy T posted at 4:34 pm on Wed, Jan 16, 2013.
Once you educate yourself on animal welfare issues and the direct impact they have on society as a whole, you understand that even a goldfish matters. It is so exciting to see my values so clearly represented in the stance Representative Kavanaugh has taken here. I look forward to a future when humanity's compassion is all-inclusive. Thank you!
Kari posted at 4:30 pm on Wed, Jan 16, 2013.
Kudos to Rep Kavanagh for taking a stand to protect the animals! The connection between animal cruelty and human violence is well documented. Studies show a correlation between animal cruelty and all manner of other crimes, from narcotics and firearms violations to battery and sexual assault.
There is a growing body of research, which over the last twenty years, has firmly established a significant link between domestic violence and animal abuse. A Chicago Police Department study showed that 65% of people charged with animal abuse crimes were also charged with violent crimes against people. Five different studies determined that from 48.8% to 71% of battered women reported that their pets had been threatened, harmed, or killed by their partners. In a national survey of battered women’s shelters, 85% of the shelters surveyed affirmed that women seeking shelter at safe houses reported incidents of pet abuse.
Getting the serious attention of law enforcement, prosecutors and the community in cases involving allegations of neglect and cruelty to animals is an essential step in protecting the community.
cactuskate posted at 2:14 pm on Wed, Jan 16, 2013.
Finally, a politician with who cares about animals and abuse. You people are missing the issue here. Try teaching your kids to be kind to animals and people, and maybe they won't grow up to be abusers. It starts in the home. Why should animals of any kind be brought home from a carnival or etc. only to be subjected to flushing down the drain or let loose to fend for itself. Grow up people and look at the REAL issue. This has nothing to do with educational funding, it's teaching right from wrong.
downtownresident posted at 1:33 pm on Wed, Jan 16, 2013.
That's right. Let's go after those tough issues, like goldfish, while our children are getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop, by being ignored and having their educational funds funneled to the freinds of our self-serving legislature, or to the legislators them- selves are dipping directly into the cash pool, never mind ethics and conflicts of interets.
Another dull mind at work doing nothing.
DataMan posted at 12:27 pm on Wed, Jan 16, 2013.
Yet more proof that Kavanagh is losing his mind. A gold fish at a carnival? Is this bill worth 1 second of his time?