Utah’s animal protection laws flunked a recent year-end report from the Animal Legal Defense Fund. The 11th annual report evaluates animal protection laws in every state, reviewing laws concerning crimes against animals.
The Beehive State ranked 47th in the nation followed by Wyoming, Iowa and Kentucky. This is the fourth year in a row Utah ranked in the bottom five states for animal protection.
Illinois ranked first in the report for strongest animal protection laws, followed by Oregon, Maine and California.
Lora Dunn, the senior staff attorney for the Animal Legal Defense Fund, said there are many Utah animal protection laws that need amending.
“Some areas where Utah could improve include enacting felony penalties,” she said. “We would also like to see Utah pass laws that specifically allow courts to include animals in domestic violence protective orders. That’s has huge practical implications. We know statistically that, unfortunately, human victims of domestic violence will often choose not to leave situations of domestic abuse because they’re concerned about leaving a companion animal or pet behind in that situations. So we would like to see Utah follow the course of other states and enacting a law that specifically allows for inclusion of pets in protective orders.”
Utah is one of few states that also still enforces “ag-gag” laws. These laws essentially stop whistleblowers and advocates from reporting animal abuse in private property agricultural settings, like in factory farms, meat packing companies or research facilities.
“We would like to see that law be eliminated,” Dunn said. “The Animal Legal Defense Fund has taken that law to court, and we’re currently involved in civil litigations to strike down that law, which we believe is unconstitutional."
