NH House to vote today on amended animal cruelty bill

 CONCORD — Wolfeboro Police Chief Dean Rondeau remains passionate in his opposition to an amended animal cruelty bill that he believes will only facilitate animal abuse.

The bill in question, SB 569, introduced by Wolfeboro Sen. Jeb Bradley, was amended by the House Environment and Agriculture Committee in response to complaints about the cost of care and licensing requirements that some felt were overly broad. That amended bill is scheduled to go before the full House for a vote today.

A minority opinion on the committee had called for the bill to be labeled inexpedient to legislate, killing it completely.

Rondeau and several animal care organizations are calling for the House to reject the amendment and pass the bill as it came out of the state Senate.

“Sen. Bradley’s bill is just good, responsible legislation,” Rondeau said. “This whole thing that the House Environment and Agriculture Committee did stinks, and I just want the citizens to be aware that there’s better legislation out there.”

Rep. John O’Connor, who shepherded the amendments through the House committee, said Bradley’s bill was flawed due to being rushed through with last-minute amendments.

“We have a tendency to fact-check, and we look at the commas and semicolons,” O’Connor said.

In two days of back-to-back hearings, O’Connor said they listened to people’s complaints about the cost-of-care provisions in Bradley’s bill, which called for the accused to post bonds of as much as $2,000 per animal, or forfeit them, prior to being found guilty of any wrongdoing. Instead, O’Connor’s committee recommended a comprehensive study of funding options to avoid violating an accused person’s right to due process.

Rondeau said sending something to study in Concord is the same as killing it.

“But let’s say it makes it out of the study committee. What does that mean? A new tax, an increase in registrations for license plates, an increase in the cost of dog registrations. You’re adding new taxes and fees, and I have a real issue with that. And I don’t think you’re going to raise enough money to cover the cost of these huge animal investigations and seizures.”

Rondeau said the cost of caring for the Great Danes seized from Christina Fay in Wolfeboro exceeded $1.7 million long ago and is continuing to increase.

“The one-day operation for me to seize those animals was $16,000,” Rondeau said, “and that did not include the investigative work prior to or the post investigative work. Now we’re into the millions,and what fund is the state going to create that is sustainable, when there have been five or six large-scale animal cases in 2017 alone?”

As to due process, Rondeau said Bradley’s bill codified due process by giving the courts the authority to determine the reasonable cost of care and to take into consideration a person’s ability to pay.

Responding to the complaint that Bradley’s bill made no provision for people to recover the cost of care if they ultimately are found to be not guilty, Rondeau said they have the recourse of petitioning the court for the return of funds, or they can sue the town or the shelters receiving the funds.

“I don’t think anybody intended that a person would be shorted the cost of care,” he said. “They should be made whole. The state took a risk in prosecuting the case and, if it cost $85,000 and the person is found not guilty, then the state has the eat that cost.”

He said, “As a police chief, it’s important to make sure the rights of both the victims and the rights of the accused are protected. The police are uninterested, unbiased investigators who want to make sure that the process is unbiased.”

Rondeau also objects to the “carve-outs” for those who raise dogs for shows, mushing, herding, and other specialized uses.

“By carving out exceptions, it only watered down the substandard legislation already on the books,” he said. “Look at the abuse cases we’re seeing in New Hampshire — one every two months is too many. Every other state within a reasonable driving distance from New Hampshire has more stringent laws than we do, because they’re trying to prevent this type of behavior.”

Marilee Gorham, executive director of the New Hampshire Humane Society and president of the New Hampshire Federation of Humane Organizations, agreed.

“People are moving to New Hampshire because they know our laws are weak and there’s no oversight,” she said.

“There’s too many things that made it into the amendment, instead of focusing on what we need to address,” Gorham said. “People were really upset and incensed and angry and disgusted with the Great Dane case, but this won’t be the last case. There will always be more, and this is the year to make a stand, and it starts with licensing.”

She said that humane organizations have no problem with people who breed ethically. Being licensed, she said, gives them more credence, showing that their animals are being taken care of in the right way, with oversight and accountability.

“This bill is about standing up and saying we want to acknowledge we have these issues in this state,” she said.

She said the idea that dog licenses could be raised by 25 cents to cover the cost of care “doesn’t begin to solve the problem.” With upwards of 200,000 licensed dogs, she said the $62,500 raised will not go far.

“The bill should stand in its original form, and we can address other changes and such things as hoarding separately,” Gorham said.