New York State Assemblyman Sean M. Ryan announced this week that he’s proposing tougher animal abuse penalties. The legislation, which is being called, “Phoenix’s Law,” is named for a Jack Russell Terrier who was burned alive by two teenagers in October. “Phoenix” lived through the ordeal, but is still in a Buffalo animal hospital recovering from burns and broken bones.
According to a police investigation, on Oct. 29, two teenagers who had spent the previous weeks torturing a neighbor’s puppy, finally doused it in lighter fluid and set it on fire. Diondre L. Brown, 17, and his uncle, Adell Zeigler, 19, have both been indicted on felony charges, but under current law, neither can receive more than two years in prison for the felony attack.
MORE: Ethan the Jack Russell Terrier Survives Being Buried Alive
WIVB reports that Assemblyman Ryan’s proposed increases would mean that those convicted of felony aggravated animal cruelty would receive up to four years in jail instead of two, and pay a fine of up to $10,000.
“We’re hoping that, just as Phoenix rises from the ashes, we can have something positive that can come out of this heinous act,” Ryan said in his interview with the The Buffalo News.
Details of how Phoenix was rescued are unclear, but he sustained severe burns to more than 50 percent of his body. Over the last two months, Phoenix has undergone multiple skin grafts, had his ears amputated and one of his legs is still in a cast.
According to the Animal Legal Defense Fund, New York's current animal abuse laws are fairly lenient in their punishments. The Empire State currently ranks in 38th place for animal protections. While New York carries a two-year maximum sentence, most states carry four-year sentences. But many are even more strict than that. In Idaho, felony animal abuse can send you away for 15 years, while a felony conviction in Colorado will earn you six years in prison, and a half-a-million dollar fine. The most lax states are North and South Dakota where animal abuse doesn’t even rank as a felony.
Perhaps most frightening of all is the lack of remorse shown by the defendants, each of whom blames the other for setting Phoenix on fire. TakePart has previously reported on the well-documented patterns of animal abusers; they are as much a danger to other people as they are to pets. And when we treat their violence towards animals as somehow “less than,” we ignore crucial warning signs to our own safety.
As Phoenix continues to heal, The Buffalo Small Animal Hospital reports to local newspapers that it’s been flooded with offers of donations and adoptions for the invincible little dog.
What do you think should happen to the boys who burned Phoenix alive? Let us know in the Comments.
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A Bay Area native, Andri Antoniades previously worked as a fashion industry journalist and medical writer. In addition to reporting the weekend news on TakePart, she volunteers as a webeditor for locally-based nonprofits and works as a freelance feature writer for TimeOutLA.com. Email Andri | @andritweets | TakePart.com