HB1046 protects animals from wrongful seizure

By now, many animal people may have read about why HB1046 is a bad bill. HB1046 changes Section 821.025(a) of the Texas Health and Safety Code to allow for appeals in animal seizure cases. You may not have heard why it's an imperfect, but necessary bill.

Under Texas law, people charged with animal cruelty have a right to a hearing before a judge, but no trial, and no right to an appeal. The judge's ruling is final. You may think, "I am not cruel to animals, so why should I care what happens to those who are?" There are three reasons: First, in America, everyone is presumed innocent and has the right to a fair trial. Second, judges are not perfect - sometimes they make mistakes and that is why our legal system allows for appeals. Third, when the system fails, animals die needlessly.

If the criminal court system can fail, as it did for the many Dallas County inmates recently exonerated by DNA evidence, we can only assume that it fails in animal cruelty cases as well.

Take the example of The Cranky Shepherd. A concerned neighbor calls the sheriff  to report seeing some skinny sheep. The shepherd is a cantankerous old guy and isn't on the best terms with the sheriff or the rest of the town. The shepherd is charged with animal cruelty, and has a hearing in the Justice of the Peace court. The shepherd says, "We could not keep weight on these ewes until the twin lambs were old enough to wean. We are putting the weight back on as quickly as possible." The shepherd presents photos of the fat and healthy twins, and a letter from a veterinarian. He could not afford to pay the vet to come out and testify.  However, the JP knows nothing about sheep, and happens to be friends with the shepherd's ex-wife. And by the way, the JP is not a lawyer and is up for re-election.

The shepherd is convicted of animal cruelty and the ewes are turned over to a sanctuary. The shepherd plans to file an appeal only to be told that there is no appeal.

The same situation happens with dogs and cats. If the judge turns them over to an animal shelter or orders them euthanized, there is no appeal. Most people assume that seized dogs and cats will find new, better homes. This may be the case for small dogs, kittens and some puppies. However, large adult dogs, hard to place dog breeds and adult cats have a high probability of being euthanized after the hearing. Judges are human, and like all humans can be biased or incompetent. Mistakenly removing an animal from a decent home cannot be un-done if the animal is euthanized due to lack of space. 

The bill is not perfect. There should be a time limit for an appeal in order to reduce costs and reduce animal suffering. This can easily be done during the legislative amendment process.

Engineers often say that you can have it fast, you can have it cheap, or you can have it done right, but you can't have all three. Texas law can allow for a speedy trial, yet right the wrongs that inevitably occur when a single human being is making life and death decisions. If a cruelty case is strong and well-documented, we should not fear allowing the defendants a chance to appeal.

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