Strongest penalty's huh? Have teeth huh? Interesting.... Oh I guess thats if they don't give them a slap on the wrist and tell them not to do that again first right??? Should be interesting to see what becomes of the Horse neglect case just uncovered in Waldoboro recently. Want to take bets on whether teh man gets a slap on the wrist or Felony jail time and restitution.

It would really be more interesting to have some finding/informative information to why this state is accused of this instead of this half truth, leaving you wondering where , how, and why they make this claim about maine animal abuse if your gonna run our state down for animal abuse atleast state some actual fact and why we are compared to other states and if there is facts more people like myself need to know so we can get involved and take a stand for our four legged / any animal being abused stand...

I have posted that fact for years in Maine forums, Maine has the toughest laws in the country for animal abusers. Some of the best Maine people i have ever met worked for animal care groups in Maine.

SSkidgell....they aren't running it down - they are saying we have some of the strongest penalty's ( the key issue here is not the penalties themselves - it is the fact that very few actually go through the court system to reach those penalty phases). 1st offenders get a slap on the wrist and told not to do it again.

It's pretty bad when abusers are awarded their animals back by judges that don't care when the evidence is clear and obvious. I was involved in one of these cases in the past.

I was involved indirectly with an animal abuse case not to long ago. The judge awarded the animals back to the owner. The evidence was plain and clear that there was abuse and neglect. Do some judges not care?