Colorado Bans Animal Abusers From Owning Pets

Denver’s CBS News reports:

A new Colorado law will ban animal abusers from owning a pet for upwards of five years. Gov. Jared Polis signed HB19-1092 into law Thursday afternoon.

“It will increase restrictions of people convicted of felony pet animal cruelty, and facilitate mental health and treatments to address the underlying factors that drive tragic animal cruelty,” Polis said.

With the new law, offenders would be banned from owning, possessing or caring for an animal for three to five years. A judge can also sentence them to complete an anger management program or other mental health treatment.

Judges regularly ban convicted animal abusers from owning pets but it appears that this is the first state law that makes such a ban automatic.