Ontario County is joining a growing list of New York counties with animal abuser registries.
At their meeting last night, the Ontario County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to establish a public registry of people convicted of misdemeanor and felony charges of animal abuse, neglect and torture. Those individuals will be banned from owning animals for 15 years.
"I think it's a win for the animals in our community and the community members in our community and I just think this is a huge step forward," said Kurt Koczent, board president for the Ontario County Humane Society.
He said his organization worked with the Board of Supervisors to craft the resolution and the legislators, district attorney, and Ontario County Sheriff David Cirencione supported the effort from the start.
Last year in the county, there were 35 arrests for animal abuse, according to Koczent.
"We have been in the 30s for a number of years, and that's alarming," he said. "A county of our size should have single digits to maybe low double digits in arrests for animal abuse."
He called the registry a message to the community that such abuse will not be tolerated.
Thirty-three New York counties, including Livingston and Steuben, currently have animal abuser registers, according to the New York State Humane Association. Ontario will be the 34th. Monroe County does not have a registry. Democratic Legislator Willie Lightfoot proposed one in 2013, but it died in committee, after majority Republicans said they preferred a statewide registry.
So far, proposals in the state Legislature failed to move past the committee process.
Once it is set up, the Ontario County animal abuser registry will be accessible on the Ontario County Sheriff's mobile app, and at ontariocountyny.gov/sheriff, according to a statement from Sheriff Cirencione.
He said convicted animal abusers who fail to register or who are convicted of owning a pet in violation of the law may face up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000 or $5,000, respectively.
Anyone convicted of violating the ban will be subject to a lifetime ban on owning an animal in Ontario County.
