Animal Abuse: The Need For a Registry

Lawmakers in California are considering the establishment of an animal abuse registry. The outstanding of research of Frank Ascione of the University of Denver's Graduate School of Social Work - Institute For Human-Animal Connection and others has shown a close relationship between animal and human abuse. According to Stephan Otto, of the Animal Legal Defense Fund, “We know there’s a link between those who abuse animals and those who perform other forms of violence ... Presumably if we’re able to track animal abusers and be able to know where they live, there will be less opportunity where those vulnerable to them would be near them.” This is an unprecedented piece of legislation and surely would be something that animals would want.