Lee County Commissioners to hold public meeting on animal abuse registry

Reporter: Asha Patel Writer: Nicholas Karsen
Published: Updated:
abuse
Credit: WINK

The Lee County Commissioners will hold a public hearing on Tuesday morning regarding animal abuse and hear feedback from the community.

Commissioners will create an animal abuse registry to help keep animals safe from people who don’t know how to treat them properly.

With the registry, pet sellers and animal shelters can easily identify someone who has been convicted of animal abuse crimes. The hope is that this will prevent new cases of abuse.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office requested an ordinance to create the animal abuse registry.

Those on the registry will have been convicted of abuse, and thus will not be allowed to have animals for a specified period.

Studies show that people who have abused animals in the past are likely to do so again in the future.

Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno has expressed zero tolerance for animal abusers. During a press conference, Marceno had a strong message for abusers.

“If anyone abuses an animal in this county, we’re coming for them,” he said. “We’re going to hunt them down, and they’re going to jail. I promise you.”

The hearing will be held at 9:30 a.m., on Tuesday at the Lee County Commission Chambers located at 2115 2nd St., and it will be your chance to express how you feel about this registry.

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