Please encourage Peter Shumlin, Governor of Vermont, to become a leader in making animal neglect and cruelty (especially of livestock) unacceptable in the State of Vermont.
What is needed is quick response of police personnel to animal cruelty complaints along with police understanding of what neglect and cruelty are.
Secondly there needs to be a speedy judicial process. Animals are considered property in the State of Vermont. The judicial process can proceed slowly, as if the contested animal were an automobile, or a piece of land. What is not factored into the equation is that animals are alive, and need to be fed, sheltered, and cared for.
Thirdly there needs to be an allocation of funds to maintain livestock or other animals while their fate is decided in the courts. As of now, there is no money. Once the police take custody of animals, private individuals or welfare groups are often asked to foster these animals at great expense, usually with no reimbursement.
Please sign this petition to encourage our Governor to address some of these issues.
