Monroe County legislators are considering establishing an animal abuser registry to protect animals and promote public safety.
The proposal cleared its first legislative hurdle Monday night, when the legislature's Agenda/Charter committee voted unanimously to allow it to proceed.
If the resolution is approved by the full legislature, individuals in Monroe County who are convicted of animal neglect, abuse, and cruelty would be prohibited from purchasing or adopting an animal. They would have 10 days from the date of their conviction to submit their name to the public registry, where it would remain for 10 years, unless their conviction was overturned.
There would be penalties for offenders who fail to register and for any adoption agency or pet dealer who allow a known offender to buy or adopt an animal. The registry would be publicly available on Monroe County’s website.
Supporters of the proposal say this would create greater accountability for people who have a history of animal abuse. The resolution cited studies showing a near 100 percent recidivism rate for certain types of abuse, including animal hoarding.
Republican legislator Jackie Smith took the lead on the resolution. She said she was compelled to do so after hearing about animal abuse in Clarkson, where she was previously a town board member and a liaison for the dog warden.
In one such case, Smith said, “Fourteen puppies (were) left in a house alone for two weeks, not being cared for, not being fed.”
Just over half of New York's 62 counties, including Steuben, Livingston, and most recently, Ontario, have established similar registries to protect animals and promote public safety.
The last time an animal abuser registered was considered in Monroe County was in 2013 when Democrat Willie Lightfoot proposed it. But the then-majority Republicans said they preferred to wait for a statewide registry, which never came to pass.
But this time, the local effort is a bipartisan one.
"Dogs and cats and other animals are not Republican or Democrat," said, Smith. "I think that everybody has one, knows of someone that has an animal, and knows that they're something that we need to take care of."
The resolution proposing the registry will go before the county Legislature's Public Safety committee tonight. If it passes there, it will be considered by the full legislature at their Aug. 11 meeting. A final step would be a public hearing at the Sept. 8 Legislature meeting.
Smith said she knows of no resistance to the resolution, and that she worked with her Democratic colleagues, the sheriff's office, and the county law department to craft it.
"We've gotten quite a few people that have reached out stating they were so happy to see that something like this has finally come to Monroe County," Smith said.
