New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NJSPCA)

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Just a quick update about some recent blogs describing proposed bills in New Jersey.

Governor Christie pulled the plug on the NJSPCA signing S3558 into law which removes the association’s law enforcement authority.

Nosey’s bill (S2508), which would have threatened the continued existence of zoos and  other educational  facilities in New Jersey, based on…

NJ Bill S3558, which strips the NJ Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NJSPCA) of law enforcement authority, passed both legislative houses and only awaits the Governor’s signature or his failure to veto before becoming law.  As previously discussed, this measure is long overdue, as animal rights advocates, animal welfare organizations, animal-related businesses…

Senator Lesniak introduced S3558 to address deficiencies in the enforcement of New Jersey’s animal cruelty laws by state and county societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals.  Several state reports had concluded that the centuries-old law granting law enforcement authority of animal cruelty investigations to part time volunteers was overdue for a drastic change.  …

Today, lawmakers in Trenton, New Jersey did not have the opportunity to reject an attempted override to Governor Christie’s condition veto of Senator Lesniak’s so-called “puppy mill bill,” one of more than 200 similar laws nationwide orchestrated by the Humane Society of the United States and other animal rights groups opposed to anyone who makes…

At the request of New Jersey Department of Agriculture (NJDA), New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (NJAES), and New Jersey Farm Bureau, State legislators adopted a law in 1996 “which directs the Department of Agriculture—in consultation with the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station—to adopt ‘standards for the humane raising, keeping, care, treatment, marketing, and sale…

New Jersey Assemblyman Troy Singleton, sponsor of “Moose’s Law,” an animal abuse registry law which I have discussed several times, has proposed another animal cruelty-related bill.  This time, in Assembly Bill No. 4313, Singleton proposes to add to the list of possible civil animal cruelty offenses conduct that “[p]uts a domestic companion animal in danger…

In New Jersey, Senate Bill 2454 would “[p]rovide for confiscation and forfeiture of animals involved in animal cruelty violations, and for [the] cost of their care while being held,” all without a Court review of any evidence that would demonstrate such action was warranted.  While we have previously discussed that laws should provide for swift…

Three fairly recent incidents in Massachusetts, Oregon, and New Jersey reveal different approaches to the enforcement of these states’ animal cruelty statutes.

In April, 2014 the Massachusetts Supreme Court, in a case of first impression, held that “in appropriate circumstances, animals, like humans, should be afforded the protection of the emergency aid exception,” which normally…

Following the lead from New York City, the enforcement of New Jersey’s Animal Cruelty Statute should be placed squarely under the authority of state and local police, with animal control officers, animal cruelty investigators, certified livestock investigators, and SPCA officers providing technical support and expertise, when needed.

As recently reported by the ASPCA, the long-standing…

Animal cruelty laws in New Jerseyare due for a check-up, better, a complete overhaul. The original statute, adopted nearly 150 years ago, was intended to protect animals, mostly horses, against abuses at a time when horses were relied on for transportation and field work.  At least two recent New Jersey State-directed investigations have concluded that…