Nevada animal rights groups back counseling

RENO — Nevada animal rights advocates are convinced that those who abuse animals in their youth are likely to abuse people later in life.

For years they have tried to persuade the state Legislature to toughen penalties for anyone who harms animals, including pets and farm animals.

They did just that in the 2011 session, when legislators made such abuse a felony offense.

Now they’re supporting a proposal that would carry their cause further.

Assemblyman Michael Sprinkle, D-Sparks, last week submitted a bill draft request that would require animal abusers who are convicted to receive mandatory counseling, and pay for it.

Sprinkle, a freshman in the lower house, said he has received support from the state attorney general’s office and the Nevada Humane Society but has yet to get any legislative co-sponsors.

“I feel very confident that this will get passed through the Legislature and signed by the governor,” Sprinkle said. “Far more important is the link that we have been able to show between those who abuse animals and then move on to potentially abuse humans as well. This is a necessary step to try to cut that link and to get the help that these people probably need.”

Although the proposal is expected to get widespread support from animal rights groups, one advocate was irritated at not being told about it.

“Why did we know nothing about this bill and why were we not consulted?” asked Gina Greisen, president of Nevada Voters for Animals, when told about it by a reporter. “For anything to be successful in this state, every animal advocate has to work together.

“Cooney’s Law had amazing support from Northern and Southern Nevada in 2011 when that bill was passed, and that was not by accident.”

Cooney’s law, which was authored by Greisen, increased the penalties for certain acts of animal cruelty to a felony offense.

The law is named after Cooney, a rescue dog that was brutally killed by its owner in Reno.

Sprinkle’s proposal is just one of several animal advocacy bills that will be on the agenda for the 2015 legislative session.

State Sen. David Parks, D-Las Vegas, has requested legislation to require police to go through training to deal with dogs to avoid shooting owners’ pets.

Sen. Mark Manendo, D-Las Vegas, is proposing a bill to require Nevadans convicted of intentional acts of animal cruelty to have their names included on a public registry and be banned from owning pets.

Sprinkle is up for re-election in Assembly District 30, where nonpartisan voters could decide the race. He is running against GOP candidate Lauren Scott, who has been endorsed by Gov. Brian Sandoval.

Scott, who calls herself an animal rights advocate, said she would support additional legislation for animal rights but she is concerned about how the law would be enforced.

She said there must be “available funding for it, follow-up with the convicted animal abusers and enforcement of the law.”

Sprinkle cited a Chicago Police Department study conducted in 2001-04 that “revealed a startling propensity for offenders charged with crimes against animals to commit other violent offenses toward human victims.”

The study examined the arrest records of 332 men the Chicago Police Department arrested for animal cruelty. It found that 70 percent of suspects had arrests for other felonies, including two homicides. It also found that 65 percent of them were arrested for battery-related violent offenses.

The Nevada animal rights activists point to a relevant case in which two Las Vegas women fell victim to a killer who committed violence on animals during his childhood.

Carroll Cole, a notorious serial killer, killed Kathlyn Blum and Marnie Cushman in Las Vegas, then had sex with their corpses in the ’70s. He was the first person to die by lethal injection in Nevada.

States including New York, Colorado and California have passed laws similar to Sprinkle’s proposal.

Contact Capital Bureau reporter Whip Villarreal at wvillarreal@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901. Find him on Twitter: @WhipVillarreal.