Do North Dakota Cruelty Laws do Enough to Protect Abused Animals?
A North Dakota man pleaded guilty to animal cruelty and received a three-month sentence.
A North Dakota man received a "slap on the wrist" over severe animal negligence. According to Bismarck Tribune, Shanan Weigum of Zap just pleaded guilty to animal cruelty. He will reportedly serve three months of his three-year sentence and have to pay $76,000 in restitution. The sentence seems pretty light considering the torture that a bunch of farm animals went through.
There were deceased animals on the property as well as animals in such poor condition that they had to be euthanized.
Bismarck Tribune reports that there were dead horses, foals, lambs. There were also several other horses, and a donkey found in poor condition. On top of that, some animals had to be euthanized because there were in such terrible condition.
North Dakota laws suck at doing much for animals that are abused.
North Dakota was ranked number 42 out of 50 on the list of State Animal Protection Laws in 2020. Why is North Dakota sitting near the bottom of the list? These are the reasons why According to Animal Legal Defense Fund :
- No felony provisions for neglect, abandonment, or sexual assault of animals
- No statutory authority to allow protective orders to include animals
- No mechanism for pre-conviction restitution
- No statutory authorization for post-conviction forfeiture or post-conviction possession bans
How do people treat animals like this and why are North Dakota's laws so lenient on abusers?
As an animal lover, I cannot begin to understand how animals can be degraded with such cruelty... and that North Dakota laws allow it! I feel like the worst person in the world if I so much as step on my dog's toes. So I do not get how people are ok with completely neglecting and abusing their animals.