Please sign this petition to ask State Senator Dan Zumbach to support HF737 to fix Iowa’s animal cruelty laws.

After you’ve signed the petition, please email him at dan.zumbach@legis.iowa.gov or call him at (563) 920-5094 and let him know you want him to support HF737.

It’s time for Iowa to take animal cruelty seriously. We’re talking about peoples’ pets. Iowa’s laws for animal cruelty for pets are at the bottom of the barrel.

Animal Torture:
Iowa is one of two states (Mississippi is the other one) that treat animal torture (that’s defined as ongoing, repeated physical pain) as a misdemeanor. We think animal torture should be an automatic felony… and most Iowans think so too. HF737 (which the Iowa senate can pass in 2020) would make that happen.

Animal abuse:
When it comes to animal abuse (which is less serious than animal torture… but still involves someone hurting a pet)… our laws are also terrible. Our laws right now exempt the owners of pets from being charged with animal abuse. The laws also allow owners of pets to give someone else permission to abuse the pets. That’s wrong. We think it needs to change, and most Iowans think so too. HF737 will change that.

Animal neglect:
We all hear about it… animal being starved to death… animals freezing to death… it happens way too often in Iowa and the people responsible go unpunished. Our current laws for animal neglect are vague and need updated. Owning and caring for animals is a responsibility that most Iowans take seriously… and it’s time for our laws to reflect that.

Here’s what HF737 would do:

- Higher penalties for animal abuse.

- Higher penalties for animal neglect.

- Higher penalties for animal torture. (Makes animal torture an automatic felony in Iowa. Iowa and Mississippi prosecute animal torture as a misdemeanor currently.)

- Increased penalties for repeat offenders.

- Improved legal definitions of injuries, standards of care, abandonment, neglect, abuse, and torture.