07-01-09 -- Casorio Calls for More Serious Animal Cruelty Charges
By: Representative James E. Casorio (D-Westmoreland)
For Immediate Release
HARRISBURG, July 1 - State Rep. James E. Casorio Jr. said today that officials in York County should file serious animal cruelty charges against a dog owner who allegedly shot three of his dogs.
The owner, Carl Herbert Kline of Seven Valleys, Pa., allegedly shot three of his dogs inside his home while intoxicated. Two of the dogs were killed and dumped in a cornfield; the third was found bleeding in a crate. Kline has been initially charged only with "discharge of a firearm in an occupied structure," and is currently free on bail.
"The complete lack of responsibility and respect for life demonstrated in this case merits very severe animal cruelty charges at the very least, yet the initial charges do not even acknowledge the most serious aspect of the crime," Casorio said. "This person deserves a long, long prison sentence, not a slap on the wrist."
While the incident is still being investigated and additional charges could be filed, Casorio said the case unfortunately is indicative of the response in many areas of Pennsylvania to animal cruelty.
"Too often, charges against people who kill or injure animals intentionally are either never brought, or are treated as an afterthought," he said. "But more and more people have had enough. They are demanding that we get tougher with criminals who kill and abuse animals not just because of the innocent lives of animals that are destroyed, but also because these crimes are indicative of the potential for serious crimes against people.
"A person who can get drunk, shoot his own dogs inside his own house, then dump them in a field obviously has little regard for the safety or welfare of anything -- or anyone -- around him, and is a danger to society."
Casorio said it is frustrating for state officials and the public who are pushing for improved animal welfare and cruelty laws in Pennsylvania when those laws are not used to punish to the fullest extent possible the people who break them.
"These are serious, disturbing crimes, and need to be treated as such," he said.
Casorio, D-Westmoreland, was prime sponsor of Pennsylvania's improved commercial kennel law (Act 119 of 2008), which institutes new health and welfare requirements for dogs in large, commercial kennels in Pennsylvania, and improves enforcement against the owners of these kennels where dogs are mistreated or neglected.
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