Legislative round-up

A quick check of recent animal law-related legislative efforts around the country finds that:

North Carolina is considering a bill to join the growing ranks of states that have eliminated the use of gas chambers as a method of euthanizing companion animals. House bill 6 is nick-named "Davie's law" for a puppy that survived a gas chamber only to be found later in a plastic bag in a dumpster by a woman who happened to be throwing out her garbage...

Animal advocates met earlier this week in upstate New York to discuss plans for amending "Buster's Law". The law, named after a cat who perished in a highly-publicized cruelty crime, upgraded some of the state's cruelty offenses to felonies. It was apparently not enough, however, to get prosecutors to press felony charges against a man arrested about a month ago for trapping and fatally stabbing a mare named Skye in her stable more than a dozen times...

Meanwhile in Massachusetts, state lawmakers are considering a bill to ban a surgical procedure called devocalization, more commonly known as debarking, unless it is deemed medically necessary. The procedure involves cutting an animal's vocal chords so it makes less noise and has long been decried by opponents as unnecessary and cruel...