The Need To Report Abuse

Please contact Gov. Haslam and ask him to SIGN TN HB 1191/SB 1248, the Animal Abuse Reporting bill: (615) 741-2001; e-mail bill.haslam@tn.gov

I was checking last night to see if Governor Haslam had made a decision about TN HB 1191/SB 1248, the Animal Cruelty and Abuse bill that requires photo and video evidence of cruelty to be turned over to law enforcement within 48 hours. I couldn't get the Tennessean site to open so I tried their Twitter feed and the first story I saw was the following:

3 Robertson County school employees indicted
Apr. 23, 2013 9:40 PM | 0 Comments

Written by
Eric Miller
Robertson County Times

Three Robertson County Schools employees have been indicted by the Robertson County Grand Jury for “alleged failures regarding reporting practices to law enforcement officials and the Department of Children’s Services,” according to a release issued by Robertson County Schools on Tuesday night...

Yes, that's a little vague. I had to look the case up elsewhere. They're being charged with failure to report known or suspected child sexual abuse. So, school employees -- not just family members or other people who have a close connection with children -- can be charged with failure to report abuse in Tennessee, even suspected abuse, and everyone is okay with that. But, if we want to require someone working undercover on a farm to report animal abuse and turn over their film evidence within 48 hours, we're infringing on their First Amendment rights?

You know, nobody is stopping anyone from reporting or investigating farms. No one is preventing anyone from telling the media exactly what they find in their undercover investigations. TN HB 1191/SB 1248 just makes it a crime not to report animal abuse within 48 hours when someone finds it. That's very much like the law to report child abuse to authorities.

There's no cover-up of abuse or anything that happens on a farm. In fact, turning over photos or video to law enforcement gets the authorities involved much sooner. The film evidence can be used in court -- and the media can cover the case.

This law has been called an "anti-whistleblower" law but that's not true either. Whistleblowers are free to report anything they see and they're protected. They just have a duty to report abuse within 48 hours and this applies to someone working undercover, too.

As much as animal rights activists claim that animal abuse is being ignored by authorities, it's important to remember that they have their own agenda. They are not law enforcement and they are not unbiased when they go undercover on farms. If they actually find animal abuse on a farm, then the decision about how to proceed shouldn't be left up to them. Evidence needs to be turned over to lawful authorities so a legal investigation can take place.

What really matters is that we stop animal cruelty as quickly as possible whenever it is found -- not that someone takes weeks or months to look for a "pattern of abuse" while innocent animals suffer. TN HB 1191/SB 1248 requires people to turn their evidence over within 48 hours so law enforcement can act. There is no need to let an animal continue to be abused so an animal rights group looks for more sensational film footage so they can raise more money. Stop the abuse as quickly as possible. If you care about animals that's what you should want and that's what this bill does.

We require people to report abuse when it involves children in Tennessee. Now let's require them to report cruelty and abuse of farm animals quickly.