The Senate Family and Children Services heard SB 332 authored by Sen. Grooms on protecting pets in distressed homes. The bill provides that an adult protective services unit conducting an investigation or a caseworker conducting an assessment who observes, or has reason to believe, that an animal is a victim of animal cruelty, abandonment, or neglect may make a report to the local law enforcement agency or local animal control officer. The bill also provides that an adult protective services unit or a caseworker who makes a report of animal cruelty, abandonment, or neglect is immune from civil and criminal liability. Sen. Grooms explained that a “distressed home” could be a home that has been burned in a fire, the family has moved out and left pets behind, a domestic dispute where pets are abandoned because there is no agreement on who will take them.
Witnesses testified on the strong correlation between animal abuse and abuse of people (children, intimate partners, or elders), and stressed that the bill does not create an additional obligation to report or investigate animal abuse, but allows and encourages reporting by professionals who are in the homes conducting other investigations. Groups that testified in support included: American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and Humane Society of the United States. The bill passed 5-0.
Read the bill at https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2018/bills/senate/332