Working to amend Utah's animal cruelty laws


We continue to be committed to, and working towards the
implementation of a first offense felony option when prosecuting
animal abusers without reducing or compromising
our current animal cruelty laws.
Help Us Represent Them. Help Us Help Them.

"We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals."
-- Immanual Kant
04/28/08 Henry's Law did not pass!
On Saturday April 26th, Rhonda Kamper and Dan Dew spoke at The Confronting Cruelty Conference about the legislatures failure to pass Henry's Law and the obvious problems with the new law. They were joined by Gregory Castle of Best Friends Animal Sanctuary who spoke about pet overpopulation and the humane solutions to this crisis. We want to thank the organizers for inviting us to speak and network at this important community event.
04/03/08 Utah's new animal cruelty law punishes the animal
and not the act. Sorry Crookneck see more but it is only a misdemeanor in Utah to shoot a horse 50 times to die a slow, agonizing death but to steal a horse in Utah is a felony. Helpushelpthem as well as Bluffdale resident Jody Tuff are disappointed in the Utah legislatures to pass a narrow minded animal cruelty statute that only protects domestic cats and dogs. Bluffdale Planning Commissioner MJ Jackson sides with Tuft. "There are many animals out there being abused, but [state law] doesn't cover anything past cats and dogs. It misses chickens, goats, pigs, llamas, horses - all the big ones," Read more here.

03/31/08 Rhonda Kamper and Dan Dew will be
speaking
at The Confronting Cruelty Conference held at the SLC public library on April 25th to the 27th. They will be speaking about the continued fight to increase Utah's animal cruelty laws and the failure to pass Henry's Law. The public is encouraged to attend this free and informational seminar about helping animals in our community.
[3/26/08] Pre-Trial For The Person Who Threw Away
The Litter Of Puppies In Riverdale.
Michael Howard's pre-trial is Monday March 31st at 2pm on the 3rd Floor
Northwest With Judge Dutson. The address is: Second District Court 2525
Grant Avenue Ogden, UT 84401. We are encouraging the public to attend
wearing your Henry's Law t-shirt.
03/25/08 Dog killer Gary Griffiths is found dead at his home.
03/11/08 Warrant issued for puppy killer Michael Ray Howard
after he failed to appear in court Monday to face charges of killing 13 puppies.
[3/4/08] Today SB 297 passed the House and will now be signed into law.
Read story
in the Salt Lake Tribune. We are now the 44th state to have a third
degree felony on the first offense for torturing a domestic dog or cat. See
story on
ABC 4 We
wanted to thank everyone for their hard work and support. We will still
continue to work hard at educating the public on animal cruelty and how they
can help amend the law in a few years to help protect more animals.
03/03/08 On Friday, SB 297 had its second reading and will most likely pass
in the House soon. We have asked representatives to remove the word
"domestic" in SB 297 to include protection for all feral cats and stray
dogs. The definition of domestic is "tame and living with or used by
people". Please make one more effort to contact your representative and ask
that amend to remove the word "domestic" from line 110 (c) "Companion
animal" means an animal that is a domestic dog or a domestic cat. The
removal of this one word would protect ALL dogs and cats.
HB 470 also passed in the House on Friday and now moves to the Senate. See
votes here.
(link) Representative Allen amended her own bill to add the word
"domestic" therefore weakening it and removing protection for thousands of
animals. The previous bill was already approved by The Farm Bureau and the
Utah Humane Society.
[3/3/2008] Pre-Trial For The Person Who Threw Away The Litter Of Puppies
In Riverdale. Michael Howard's pre-trial is Monday March 10th at 3pm on the 3rd Floor Northwest with Judge Dutson. The address is: Second District Court 2525 Grant Avenue Ogden, UT 84401. We are encouraging the public to attend wearing your Henry's Law t-shirt
[02/28/08] Yesterday SB 297 passed through the Senate.
You can see the votes here It will now go to the House where it will most likely pass due to the compromised endorsement of the Utah Humane Society. Please contact your House representative and ask them to make a motion to amend this bill to include ALL animals. According to the Humane Society of the United States Fact Sheet 31 states have a first offense felony options that include all animals. Only Alabama, Kentucky and Virginia have felonies that specify cats and dogs. Four other states Hawaii, Minnesota, New York and Tennessee have felonies for defined pets or companion animals. With this unfortunate compromise Utah will still in the bottom rung of animal protection laws. All animals deserve to be protected from torture, abuse and cruelty. We will continue to work to amend the law and represent the voiceless. Thank you for your continued support and letters of encouragement.
[02/26/08] We OPPOSE SB 297 and HB 470!!!
Senator Christensen's bill SB 117 is dead and replaced by
SB 297 which was passed through the Senate Health and Human Services on
Monday. You can read more
here and
here. Representative Allen's newly amended bill
HB 470 also passed through the House Judiciary Committee on Friday. News
video here.
We oppose both bills for the following reasons:
*Both SB 297 and HB 470 only protects animals defined as "companion animals"
an animal that is a dog or cat. SB102 (Henry’s Bill) protects animals as
defined "animal" means a live, nonhuman, vertebrate creature. We believe all
animals deserve to be protected from torture. Why would we accept a lesser
punishment for the same crime because the animal was born the wrong species.
*Last year 18 of the 29 Senators voted in favor of SB 102 as well as 54 of
the 75 House Representatives. We had the votes to pass last year so why
should we compromise this year.
*The public has strongly supported the passing Henry's Law. Last year 74% of
Utahans polled agreed with a first offense felony for animal torture. (not
just for cats and dogs) We have gathered over 10,000 signatures of support
since September of last year. We represent these constituents by standing
strong to see the best possible law is passed which punishes the act and not
the animal.
*Senator Gene Davis's bill has been pass through many committees,
scrutinized, amended and reworked over the past few years to be the best
possible law for animal protection. We trust this bill and would rather see
no bill passed this year then a compromised, weaker version. If given a
chance we will continue to work with Davis towards seeing Henry's Law passed
next year.
We ask for your support to represent all animals and not just dogs and cats.
We will only accept a bill which protects any animal that depends on humans
for care, food, water and shelter. Please contact your Senator and
Representative and tell them that you want to see Henry's Law passed next
year and to oppose all compromise bills SB 297 and HB 470! Together we can
be a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves.
[02/21/08] Henry will be back to Utah Valley State
College on Wednesday the 27th from 9:00am to 3:00pm at the
Sorenson Center. We have had overwhelming support from the students and
faculty there. We look forward to educating new students and gathering more
signatures for Utah County lawmakers. The public is invited to meet Henry
and to sign the petition.
[02/21/08] HelpUsHelpThem and Henry will be back at
the
Petco in Harrisville, North Ogden on
Saturday the 23rd, from 12:00pm to 4:00pm. We are pleased to have Precious
the only surviving puppy of the 14 puppies that were discovered in a garbage
bag in a Riverdale dumpster to join us. We appreciate the passionate support
that we have received from the residents there. We also want to thank Petco
for having us and inviting us back.

[02/20/08] Henry and HelpUsHelpThem spent the day
at the Union Building at University of Utah campus. We gathered a
few hundred more petition signatures for Henry's Law. The students and
faculty are supportive of seeing Henry's Law passed and eager to join the
fight. We have been invited back Thursday, February 28th from 9:00am to 2:00
at the Union Building. Volunteers are encouraged to join us.
WELCOME TO
HELPUSHELPTHEM.ORG
To contact us:
HELPUSHELPTHEM
PO Box 57922
Murray,
Utah 84157
Email:
helpushelpthem.org@gmail.com
We need your help.
Please consider volunteering.
henryslaw.com and
Animal Advocacy Alliance of Utah
are in no way shape or form affiliated with
helpushelpthem.org
and or Henry The Dog
The Official Site of Larayn, Rhonda & Henry The Dog