Shortcomings with Vermont’s animal cruelty laws are perpetuating abuse and saddling volunteer shelters with the high cost of caring for mistreated pets, advocates told lawmakers this week.
Lawmakers last updated cruelty laws in 2024, when they created a new Division of Animal Welfare in the Department of Public Safety to develop a statewide plan for the enforcement of animal welfare laws.
Heather Bent, co-founder of Vermonters Against Animal Cruelty and Abandonment, told members of the House Judiciary Committee that additional legislation is “urgently needed” to resolve statutory failings that have swamped shelters and discouraged police from investigating allegations of abuse.
“After repeatedly being burned by this current system, rescue shelters are increasingly unable or unwilling to accept seized animals,” Bent said Tuesday. “And as a result, law enforcement’s ability to enforce cruelty laws has been seriously compromised.”
Courts can order alleged abusers to cover the cost of their seized animals’ care while a case is pending. But Bent said they often don’t exercise that authority.
The result, Bent said, is that nonprofit shelters absorb the $20 to $40 a day it costs to provide food, supervision and basic veterinary care to the animals.
Bent said animals routinely remain in custody for months and in some cases years, and she said it’s not unusual for costs to run into five figures for a single animal.
“Currently those costs are being absorbed by rescues, municipalities and volunteers, not by those responsible for the abuse, and this is something I think we need to change,” she said.
South Burlington Rep. Emilie Krasnow, a Democrat, has introduced legislation that would require courts to make the defendant pay for the cost of their seized animals’ care.
“I have never seen it to this point where we literally have no place for animals to go.”Joanne Bourbeau, Humane World for Animals
That would ease the financial strain on the network of shelters that allow cruelty laws to function, according to Joanne Bourbeau, northeastern regional director for Humane World for Animals, formerly the Humane Society of the United States.
“I have never seen it to this point where we literally have no place for animals to go,” said Bourbeau, a Whitingham resident who’s been an animal welfare advocate for 30 years. “Law enforcement officers will often call me and say, ‘Where am I going to bring these six dogs?’ And I have no solutions for them.”
If defendants are unwilling to post the bond needed to pay for that care, the legislation would require them to forfeit the animals. Bent said the provision would improve outcomes for animals that often deteriorate under the stress of isolation in a shelter setting.
“Adoptability declines,” she said, noting that shelters can’t seek permanent homes for pets until an animal is forfeited.
The bill would also enhance criminal penalties by creating a new five-year felony offense for certain types of “aggravated” conduct, including sexual abuse.
Trevor Whipple, a former police chief in Barre City and South Burlington who now rescues dogs and cats, told lawmakers that individuals who abuse pets are more likely to perpetrate violence against people. Numerous studies have documented correlations between animal and human abuse, including a 2020 paper published by the National Library of Medicine that stated, “Violence towards animals is a strong predictor that the abuser may inflict violence on people.”
Krasnow urged her fellow lawmakers to view the proposed legislation as a broader public safety measure.
“Preventing cruelty protects communities,” she said, “not just animals.”
