This alert is no longer active, but here for reference. Animals still need your help.

In the wake of the horrifying case of Buddy, a dog who was severely burned as a puppy by a youth in Mississippi, Buddy's Law was introduced, which would allow law enforcement and justices to hold youths accountable for their acts of violence. It was in severe danger of being killed, but revived at the last minute and will now go to the Senate for a vote. Please thank Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann for allowing this important bill to move forward and to encourage his continued support of animal-friendly legislation and to ask Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves to sign it into law.

Sen. Angela Hill, who has been instrumental in updating animal protection legislation in Mississippi, introduced Buddy's Law (SB 2261) in response to this horrific case. Buddy's abuser could not be prosecuted because Mississippi law prohibits the prosecution of youth offenders under the age of 13.

However, further issues with this case highlight the need for more avenues to deal with violent youth offenders.

Despite pleas from Sen. Hill, the co-authors of Buddy's Law, thousands of phone calls and emails from Mississippians, and over 14,000 signatures on a letter from In Defense of Animals supporting this bill, it was in danger of being withheld from the committee that would move it forward or kill it.

It's just been passed by the Judiciary B Committee and is expected to be voted on quickly by the Senate.

It is imperative that youths who do harm get the mental health evaluation and treatment they need to prevent a life of troubles and incarceration for them and the devastating harm their potential victims would endure. In Defense of Animals and kindred Mississippi organizations are acting to end the cycle of violence that minors and their victims are not currently protected from.

*The Sheriff's Department received such a huge number of calls from animal advocates and as such was unable to confirm to us that the identity of the boy who recently burned another boy to death and previously was involved in the fatal shooting of his stepsister was Buddy's torturer. We erroneously reported that it was the same boy who burned Buddy, but can now reveal that not one but two boys were involved in these separate acts of violence, showing the urgent need for mental health support for the youth of Mississippi.

This alert is no longer active, but here for reference. Animals still need your help.