Several years ago, there was a house fire in my legislative district in which several dogs needed to be rescued from a home.  Although these dogs were not harmed, they could no longer be kept in the dwelling.  The dogs were left outside during very cold weather which caused concern for their well-being by several local residents.  According to reports, local residents had difficulty contacting state and local officials authorized to inspect or intervene in the situation.
 
To address this issue, I plan to introduce legislation that would allow counties to employ humane officers who could deal with these types of situations.  These officers would be empowered to enforce dog control provisions as defined in Act 225 of 1982 (Dog Law) and animal cruelty provisions as contained in Section 5511 of Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes.  In order to be eligible to serve as a county humane officer, an individual would be required to meet the training requirements contained in Sections 3712 and 3713 of Title 22 (Detectives and Private Police) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes.
 
Join me in giving our counties the ability to protect their residents and their dogs.
 

Statutes/Laws affected:
Printer's No. 0018: 16-153