Animal rights advocates endorse Marino’s pet safety bill

A bipartisan bill proposed by U.S. Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA) to ensure the humane treatment of pets has garnered support from several animal advocacy groups.

“I am pleased to see the positive reception from advocacy groups and news stations across the country for the Keep Our Pets Safe Act,” Rep. Marino said. “As an animal lover, it breaks my heart to see families lose their pets due to the negligence of others, and I want to see people held accountable for these deaths.”

The Keep Our Pets Safe Act, H.R. 4941, which Rep. Marino introduced on Feb. 6, would make it a federal offense to knowingly leave a pet in a confined space where the animal could die from exposure to heat or cold and lack of ventilation or water, according to a summary provided by Rep. Marino’s staff. U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA) signed on as a cosponsor of H.R. 4941 in March.

“My bill would make it easier to hold someone accountable by making it a federal offense and not simply relying on patchwork state laws,” Rep. Marino said about H.R. 4941, which, if enacted, would allow violators of the law to be fined and sentenced to up to a year in jail.

Kitty Block, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, during a March 23 broadcast news interview also featuring Rep. Marino, said that H.R. 4941 would work well because it would complement state and municipal laws.

“Our law in the state of Indiana kind of protects people who rescue animals from hot cars. There’s obviously a process you have to follow,” said Amanda Coburn, development coordinator at the Vanderburgh Humane Society in Evansville, Ind., during another on-air TV interview last month. “There’s always the chance someone could say they didn’t know that was dangerous.”

“These are members of our family and they deserve and need to be kept safe and treated in a way they will not be injured,” Block said.

Rep. Marino’s office said the Humane Society Legislative Fund also has endorsed H.R. 4941, which is now under consideration by the U.S. House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture.