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National News

Potential pet adopters face criminal background checks

August 08, 2013 posted by Steve Brownstein

Animal shelters would be required to do criminal background checks on people wishing to adopt animals to ensure they haven’t been convicted of animal abuse charges under a package of bills under consideration in the Michigan state Senate.

To defray the cost of background checks, the $10 per person fee charged by the Michigan State Police ICHAT system would be waived for shelters.

One of the bills started out as requiring the establishment of a registry of animal abuse offenders that shelters could use before approving the adoption of one of its animals. But that proved to be too cumbersome and costly, said state Rep. Harvey Santana, D-Detroit.

“I just don’t think the Michigan State Police wanted to manage another registry,” he said.

Matt Falk of Goodells said he created the “Logan’s Law” group to support passage of laws because his Siberian Huskie Logan died last year after sustaining burns from someone who has never been caught.

“Police said if I didn’t see it happen, there was no crime committed,” Falk said. “These bills need to be taken into consideration because there is a lot of connection between animal and human abuse.”

The bills also would prohibit someone convicted of animal abuse from adopting an animal from a shelter for at least five years.

Support for the bills was strong, but not unanimous during the hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Ann Hier of the Michigan Association of Pure Bred Dogs said the proposed bills were an overreach by the state.

“We oppose any waiver of fees for certain groups as a matter of economic fairness,” she said. “It does nothing but pass the cost on to your constituents.”

Breeders would not be required to do background checks on people buying animals. But Hier also questioned the validity of studies that connect animal abusers with crimes against humans.

But Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, blew up at the contention.

“Your science is junk; I will not listen to your nonsense for another word,” he said. “Shame on you.”

Jones said he hopes the bills can be considered by the Legislature this fall.