Audio clip
LeighAnn McCollum
Stacked next to measures that protect humans, property and natural resources, and in a squeaky-tight budget year, bills that advocate for animals often are viewed as not so important, advocates and legislators said.
Of the 11 or so bills that would have implemented measures to protect animals, only three became laws this legislative session.
Still, proponents say this year was a success. The Humane Society of United States pushed three bills in the Tennessee General Assembly this year. Only one of those passed, said Leighann McCollum, state Humane Society director.
“Overall, I’m happy with the bills we had, and the things that did get passed,” Ms. McCollum said.
Animal advocates’ biggest success this year was a bill that will require makers of antifreeze to add a bittering agent that will make the potentially lethal substance taste bad to animals and small children, she said.
BILLS THAT PASSED
* Antifreeze: Distributors of antifreeze in Tennessee will be required to add a bittering agent that will make the potentially lethal chemical taste bad to children and animals.
* Euthanasia clarification: This bill clarified that when a veterinarian euthanizes an animal with the cardial stick method, the animal must receive an anesthetic first to reduce pain.
* Chemical capture change: This bill allows trained animal control officers to administer a chemically treated dart to subdue an animal.
Earlier in the session, Ms. McCollum had lobbied hard for bills that would create an Internet registry of pet abusers and another measure that would have made cockfighting a felony in Tennessee.
The Internet registry bill was pulled just eight days before the Legislature adjourned, and the cockfighting bill died when separate House and Senate versions stalled in the House and Senate Finance, Ways and Means committees.
“The cockfighting bill did not pass this year, but we could not be more thrilled with its progress. I think we are going to have great momentum going into next session, and we will bring that bill back again,” Ms. McCollum said. “This is the first time in over a decade that bill was passed through a committee and it actually passed through three committees.”
The Internet registry would have created an online database of addresses for and photos of people convicted of bestiality, aggravated animal abuse and animal fighting.
The bill’s debate boiled down to a rural versus urban argument, with rural legislators suggesting urbanites viewed animals differently from those who grew up on or near farms, Ms. McCollum said.
On the floor, Rep. Frank Buck, D-Dowelltown, Tenn., opposed the bill, citing an example of grazing a bull with buckshot to get the animal inside a fenced enclosure.
Rep. Janis Baird Sontany, D-Nashville, the bill’s House sponsor, said it would have exempted livestock anyway.
“That was the first time for the registry bill,” she said. “We had to get some conversation going, and now we can have some further dialogue and help our colleagues understand how important this bill is.”
Rep. Sontany sponsored five of the animal abuse bills in the General Assembly this year.
“Animal abuse is a precursor to human violence and domestic violence,” she said. “The two are not completely separate. We know that many people start out abusing animals and then graduate to violence against humans.”
Adam Crisp covers education issues for the Times Free Press. He joined the paper's staff in 2007 and initially covered crime, public safety, courts and general assignment topics. Prior to Chattanooga, Crisp was a crime reporter at the Savannah Morning News and has been a reporter and editor at community newspapers in southeast Georgia. In college, he led his student paper to a first-place general excellence award from the Georgia College Press Association. He earned ...
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