For North Dakota Pets, We Need a YES! on Measure 5! | ASPCA Blog

Guest blog post from Jessica Johnson, Grassroots Advocacy Manager for ASPCA Government Relations.

North Dakota is one of only two states that still classify even the most malicious acts of animal cruelty as weak misdemeanors. For years the state legislature has refused to take action, so the citizens of North Dakota took the matter into their own hands and gathered more than 25,000 signatures?almost double the amount needed?to put Measure 5 on the ballot this Election Day.

If passed, Measure 5 will protect pets by making extreme cruelty to dogs, cats and horses a class C felony.

Having grown up in northern Minnesota, I feel at home in the Midwest. That?s why I was shocked and horrified to hear this week that a woman in Wisconsin was arrested for deliberately torturing, poisoning, and killing her boyfriend?s dog. There is some relief in the fact that the Wisconsin woman will be charged with felonies and faces five or more years in prison. But if this dog had been tortured and killed in North Dakota, the abuser would get only a slap on the wrist.

I want nothing more than to see Measure 5 passed into law by North Dakota?s voters on November 6?that?s why I?m digging my winter boots and sweaters out of the closet and heading to Bismarck to work on the YES! on Measure 5 campaign!

Please call, email, and text your friends and family in North Dakota and ask them to vote YES! on Measure 5. And if you or someone you know are in North Dakota and want to join me and other volunteers in our efforts to get out the YES! on Measure 5 vote, please email me at grassroots@aspca.org. Let?s do this for the animals!

Source: http://blog.aspca.org/content/north-dakota-pets-we-need-yes-measure-5

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