Gabrielle Russon
The Legislature passed a bill Tuesday sparked by the dog infamously abandoned on the side of Interstate 75 with Hurricane Milton approaching.
“Trooper’s Law” would create a new enhanced animal cruelty offense for leaving a dog tied up outside during a natural disaster, like a hurricane. If convicted, a person could face up to five years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.
“All the dogs of Florida thank you and ask you to vote up on this bill,” Rep. Griff Griffitts told lawmakers before the House voted 109-0 in favor of the bill.
The Senate passed SB 150 last month with a 39-0 vote.
The 5-year-old bulldog terrier that inspired the bill was tied up to a fence in rising floodwaters outside Tampa last year. Fortunately, a state trooper drove by and noticed the animal, saving him. The dog was taken to the Tallahassee Humane Society and adopted to new owners.
The dog’s former owner, Giovanny Garcia, was charged with aggravated animal cruelty last year.
The images of the dog stranded went viral.
Lawmakers said they felt compelled to pass a new law to punish offenders who neglect their pets by abandoning them outside during tornados, tropical storms, and hurricanes or evacuation orders.
“Sometimes we get to do a good thing about a bad thing, and that’s this bill,” said Sen. Don Gaetz, the Senate sponsor, during a committee hearing last month.
How many people could get charged with this new offense?
“It is unknown how many offenses of animal cruelty have taken place during a declared emergency, and therefore the prison bed impact cannot be determined,” the Senate staff analysis said.
The language in SB 150 previously had applied to all animals restrained and abandoned outside during natural disasters — not just dogs. However, it was amended in March to match the House companion bill, Gaetz said last month on the Senate floor.
