President Signs Federal Animal Cruelty Act Into Law

On Monday, November 25, 2019, President Trump signed the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act into law, making animal cruelty a felony nationwide.

The PACT Act, a bi-partisan bill that was introduced by Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla) and Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla), closes the loophole in the 2010 Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act by outlawing the crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating, impaling, and sexual exploitation of animals. The 2010 Act previously only banned the actual creation and distribution of animal crushing videos, not the underlying acts of animal abuse.

Those found guilty of violating the law will now be charged with a federal felony offense and will face a penalty of up to seven years in prison.

LCA has long since realized the correlation between animal cruelty and human cruelty. In 2016, LCA launched the FBI Tracks Animal Cruelty campaign to support the FBI's efforts to record all incidents of animal cruelty in the United States with the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). 

Click here to learn more about LCA's FBI Tracks Animal Cruelty campaign.

Photo: Unsplash