Toughen animal abuse penalties, Alberta MP urges

Four months after a puppy was allegedly tied to a truck and dragged until near death in Myron Thompson's riding of Wild Rose, the Alberta MP has asked Ottawa for tougher laws for animal abuse cases across the country.

On Monday, Thompson tabled 111,896 signatures onfour petitions in the House of Commons.

"Let it be known as the Daisy Duke Petition, in memory of a pup killed in my riding," Thompson said, referring to the tortured Lab-border collie cross that had to be put down after it was allegedly dragged behind a truck.

From her home in Didsbury, north of Calgary, Tamara Chaney watched on TV as Thompson,her localMP, asked the House to update current animal welfare laws, which allow for a maximum penalty of six months in jail and/or a $2,000 fine.

Chaney, the owner and operator of a dog-grooming salon, began circulatingher petition last October to humane societies and societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals across Canada after learning about the case of two-year-old Daisy Duke.

"Animals deserve to have some rights,"Chaneytold CBC News Tuesday.

"They deserve to be treated with respect and love, just like every other being on the planet. There are laws to protect people out there and there just isn't to protect our pets."

A vet euthanized the animal after it was found barely alive and abandoned in a ditch.

Daniel Haskett, 19, and a teen who cannot be named under the Young Offenders Act because he was 17 at the time, have been charged with injuring or endangering an animal, and causing unnecessary suffering to an animal. Haskett also was charged with obstructing justice.Daisy Duke was the Haskett family pet.

Haskett's trial on the animal cruelty charges is set for May 23.

Dispute over rival bills

Chaneysaid shewasthrilled to see the fruits of her effortsreach ParliamentHill, butaddedshe was at oddswith Thompson over which of tworival bills to amend the Animal Cruelty Prevention Act should be passed.

"We agreed to disagree on what bill we'd be voting for," Chaney told CBC.ca on Tuesday evening.

One of those bills is C-373, a private member's bill introduced by Liberal MP Mark Holland and endorsed by Chaney's petition over rival bill S-213, introduced byLiberal Senator John Bryden.

On its website, the Canadian Federation of Humane Societiesdescribes Bryden's bill, which is scheduled for first readingon Feb. 26,as "whollyinadequate" and calls forit to be scrapped.

Chaney said S-213 "lacks teeth" and doesn't go far enough in changing current law for acts such as wilful neglect or killing an animal. In bill S-213, animals only have protection under the property section of the Criminal Code, so penalties do not apply to animals that aren't owned, such as strays and wildlife.

Holland's bill, which is in the House and has received first reading, extends the protection to include protection from cruelty and abuse for wildlife and strays.

Both bills would still protect aboriginal hunting rights.

Livestock traditions must be protected: Thompson

Thompson said any bill brought forward should have limits, and that traditional practices such as the castration, dehorning and branding of livestock should be allowed to continue as long asthey are performed in a humane mannerand closely monitored.

"Some things have been going on for centuries, and these normal practices … should be treated with the greatest respect," Thompson said.

"I can assure you, as a livestock producer once upon a time myself, and knowing others, that there's no one that has greater regard for their animals than the people that own them and raise them for those purposes," he said.

Morris Airey, the director of enforcement for the Alberta SPCA, said the group often works with the farm industry "to improve ways of doing things which cause less distress to the animals."

He said the Alberta SPCA works with rodeo associations to enforce rules that protect animals from being mistreated.