AUGUSTA – A group of animal control officers has proposed an overhaul of Maine’s animal welfare laws, including a new bestiality measure.

Donald Harper, president of the Maine Animal Control Officers Association, said his group has a waiting list of legislators willing to co-sponsor the overhaul. He said people are fed up with animal abuse and want stricter laws with harsher penalties for violators.

Although recent animal abuse cases have brought the issue attention, Harper said, the overhaul has been worked on for more than a year.

“This is proposed legislation that has come out of a cooperative effort of six different groups and associations,” he said. They include the U.S. Humane Society and equine and livestock associations.

Harper said the measures were not a result of a series of recent hearings before the Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture in Augusta in which the state’s Animal Welfare Division came under fire from state animal control officers for a perceived lack of enforcement.

“A lot of these proposed changes, however, will address some of the problems identified in those hearings,” said Harper.

In addition, he said, a separate piece of legislation is being proposed to outlaw bestiality.

Although a recent case of bestiality in Dover-Foxcroft was widely publicized, said Harper, there have been five other cases “that we are aware of” in Maine this past year. “The area district attorneys tell us they are not able to prosecute these cases because bestiality laws have been taken off the books. People thought this doesn’t happen in Maine.”

Maine is the only state in New England where the malicious killing of an animal is not considered a felony crime. Harper uses the example of the recent killing of two horses by two teen-age boys in Pittsfield. If charged as adults, the boys could get up to a year in jail if convicted. In Massachusetts, where the same act is considered a felony, they could get five years in jail.

With more than 700 animal abuse cases reported to Maine’s Department of Agriculture last year, Harper said, “It is about time we begin taking a serious look at these crimes and stop giving the criminals just a slap on the wrist.”

Harper said the proposed legislation “is just the beginning. Another law is going to be proposed to make animal abuse a felony. By the time these all get to the [Legislature’s Agriculture] Committee, I’ll bet we see 10 or 12 new animal abuse bills.”

“People are getting sick and tired of abusers getting away with killing, starving, maiming and torturing animals,” he said. By tightening the current laws and creating harsher penalties, Harper hopes, animal control officers will be able to successfully prosecute violators and “see them get appropriate punishment.”

Harper said the overhaul “will clarify the laws already on the books and additionally try to raise the standards for animal control officers.”

The 24-page proposal would require animal control officers to be certified and annually refreshed with four hours of mandatory training each year. They would be required to take pre-law enforcement courses, carry firearms and authorized to make arrests, unless an individual town prohibits them from doing so.

The proposal also would expand the definition of abandoned animals from just dogs to include all animals, and requires the municipalities to be responsible for such animals, including cats, domesticated or undomesticated. It would raise the annual license fees for unspayed female dogs or wolf hybrids from $7.50 to $20, with $12.50 of that fee directed to support local animal control budgets. It would raise the penalty cap for a civil violation of animal welfare laws from $100 to $250.

Another change would authorize animal control officers to take temporary custody of dogs after their owners have received a written summons and have not restrained or confined the dogs. Animal control officers would also be authorized to seize animals, a power now held only by two state veterinarians.

The proposal further would clarify care for animals requiring medical attention, define proper care and disposition of injured or ill animals, clarify who is responsible for investigating and reporting cases of cruelty, and define when emergency euthanasia may be used.