LANSING, Mich. — Demonstrators rallied at the Michigan State Capitol on Tuesday to kick off support for an initiative that organizers said seeks to protect pets in the state.
The "Protect MI Pet" initiative would establish a public registry of all convicted animal abusers in Michigan.
"This isn't just my own personal experiences of 30 years being in law enforcement," Genessee County Sheriff Christopher Swanson said. "I'm seeing the constant continuation of animal abuse and the worst cases."
West Michigan has had its own experiences with high-profile abuse recently, after 78 dogs were seized from Lisa Cober of Cober's Canine Rescue in Norton Shores earlier this year.
Volunteers from one of the shelters that took in the Cober Canines, Big Lake Humane Society in Muskegon, attended the rally with two of those dogs who cannot yet be released to new homes as Cober goes through the criminal process.
"Right now, these guys are considered property — much like a car or a couch any other type of object," Big Lake Humane Society Shelter Manager Velvet Lyght said. "So, once they are seized in a criminal activity, they're just held as evidence, and we aren't allowed to adopt them out to a home. And criminal process can take weeks, months, years, even sometimes."
In addition to the statewide registry, the initiative would look to speed up that process by creating a time limit on how long an alleged abuser can keep custody of their animals following their probable cause hearing in court.
"This initiative creates a 22 day maximum," Lyght said. "So, that's three weeks in the care of them being in the shelter, which is important because they don't need to sit in a kennel or even a foster home, when they could be in a real home while their abuser is walking around free on bail."
Demonstrators hoped to encourage lawmakers to add the initiative to the 2024 election ballot.
Until action is taken by the legislature, ballot initiatives like this one require a certain number of signatures from the public to make it onto an election ballot based. The number is based on how many people voted in the last election.
Organizers on Tuesday estimated about 750,000 signatures will be needed for this initiative to make it on the 2024 ballot.
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