CATSKILL — The Greene County Legislature voted to create an animal abuse registry after a 15-minute public hearing.
The law, which passed in a 13-0 vote with one absent, will establish an online registry of people convicted of crimes against animals maintained by the Greene County Sheriff’s Office.
“Animal abusers have a high rate of recidivism and is often associated with violence towards humans,” according to the law. “It is the intent of this law to restrict those persons who have committed serious animal welfare crimes to be banned from owning or living with an animal for a period of 15 years and to be listed on the sheriff’s website in order to restrict their ability to obtain an animal.”
Anyone who lives in Greene County and is convicted of an animal abuse crime must register with the Greene County Sheriff’s Office and will appear on the registry, according to a statement from the county.
Any person or entity transferring the ownership of an animal is required to check the registry to see if the person obtaining the animal is listed, according to the statement.
During the public hearing, Everlasting Hope Animal Rescue President and founder Wendy Guntert said the registry will help reduce instances of domestic violence, as people who abuse animals often abuse people, leading to more serious crimes.
“I really think that this is important because if we can start making this public and getting them on the radar when they’re abusing animals, then maybe — hopefully — we can get to them and work with them and law enforcement and mental health or whatever we need to do to get the resources in place so that they don’t abuse kids and spouses and strangers and people in our community,” Guntert said.
Guntert said Everlasting Hope will also advocate for the creation of a similar registry in Columbia County.
Greene County District Attorney Joseph Stanzione said the hope is with this law, Greene County can work with other counties that have enacted similar legislation to advocate for a statewide registry.
“It’s amazing what can be accomplished when our concerned citizens are involved,” Stanzione said. “The work on the registry isn’t all that complicated. Yeah, it’s a lot more work, but it is a registry, similar to a sex registry, where an individual’s name is placed on the registry so that we know who’s been abusing animals, that we can have some control over whether or not they have animals in the future.”
Legislature Chairman Patrick Linger, R-New Baltimore, said some organizations emailed comments for the hearing, including the ASPCA of Delmar, which asked the legislature not to pass the law as it creates a “vigilante mentality,” is expensive to maintain and might decrease prosecutions. The Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council in Alexandria, Virginia, also asked the legislature not to move forward with the law, as it “penalizes people that are selling these at a retail level.”
The state Senate passed a bill May 5 that would prohibit the sale of dogs, cats and rabbits by retail pet shops. The bill has been delivered to the Assembly but has not been put to a vote.
Harold Vadney of New Baltimore said he supported the law but was concerned about the burden on the sheriff’s department, who would manage the registry, and said the department should focus on more violent offenders.
Sheriff Pete Kusminsky said at the meeting that the registry would be manageable for the sheriff’s department.
“Our goal for this new registry is two-fold: to provide the Sheriff’s Office with an efficient way to communicate the identities of offenders to our residents, and to create an online resource for anyone transferring the ownership of an animal,” Kusminsky said in the release.
The movement to create the registry was spearheaded by Greene County resident Jamie Hyer-Mitchell and Hyer Ground Rescue, whose mission is to advocate and educate the public on state animal cruelty laws, according to the release.
“I’m very encouraged with my experience working with the legislature on this new local law,” Hyer-Mitchell said in the release. “Their support and recognition of the importance of this issue is evidenced by how quickly they enacted it.”
The county created a new webpage for the registry and will also be accessible through the Greene County Sheriff’s office mobile app, the release states.