Working to amend Utah

Henry's Story

On April 26th, 2006, Marc Vincent, my ex-husband, cornered Henry with a leaf blower. An adorable dachshund/chihuahua mix puppy, Henry was only six months old at the time. Marc's exaggerated delusion of machismo cost Henry his left eye. A month later, on May 25th, Marc escalated his attacks, placing Henry in a 200 degree oven. Marc watched as Henry ran around the inside of the oven until finally he fell through the grates. Five long minutes passed before Marc opened the oven door and let a severely burned Henry out.

The pictures below were taken about a month after the final attack.

I came home that evening to find a tortured and terrified Henry hiding in the corner of his carrier; the smell of burning flesh and fur lingering in the kitchen. The pain that Henry endured that day left him not only severely scarred, with his front toes fused together, but emotionally traumatized, from which he has never fully recovered.

Marc Vincent was charged with intentional animal cruelty, a crime which in Utah today is only a Class A Misdemeanor. The maximum penalty Utah law currently allows is one year in jail and a $2500 fine. Marc Vincent was sentenced to six months in jail and fined $500. Of the six months, he served only four. Marc was released from his 2 year probation only 2 months after leaving jail.

Three attempts have been made in recent years to upgrade this law, all have failed. In September 2007, Governor Huntsman convened a Special Session where Henry's law met with opposition and stalling tactics, eventually forcing the bill to be shelved. HelpusHelpthem was there. We will not accept anything less than a first offense felony. We are again moving forward with our campaign.

Update: Utah managed to put together a “bad” law felony provision in the 2008 session. Helpushelpthem is working to get the amendments voted on for 2010. Basically Utah’s law makes it a felony to torture dogs and cats that are in homes…strays may not be covered and furthermore, Utah’s law only deals with dogs and cats…if you’ve a pet other than those two that pet is not protected