Miss WVirginia sounds like idiot who repeats AR slogans, she doesn’t need to worry about Internet hunting, it doesn’t exist.

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118668766176893323-pZmjLU7DbTO12lzVq34vSLqKUbE_20070908.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top

I guess we know who the gullible AR poster child will be when WV exotic bills are re- introduced

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http://www.bdtonline.com/local/local_story_231214909.html

Published: August 19, 2007 09:49 pm

Miss West Virginia sees need for improved animal cruelty laws

By GREG JORDAN
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

BLUEFIELD — Dogs and cats, horses and cows, and exotic pets can’t speak for themselves when they’re hungry, cold or abused, so a Mercer County woman is using her new spot in the public forum to speak out for them.

Summer Wyatt, the newly- crowned Miss West Virginia, has chosen the theme “Making the connection between animal cruelty and family violence” as the platform for her reign. This covers animal neglect, online hunting, exotic animal ownership, horse slaughter and other related issues.

Wyatt became interested in combating cruelty to animals when a member of her family started volunteering her time to help animals.

“My grandmother was an animal cruelty investigator for Tazewell County,” she said. “I would see her photos taken with her fellow investigators.”

In one case, Wyatt learned how some livestock breeders would simply leave ill calves to die; they thought the practice was acceptable because their herds were large enough to take the loss financially.

“One time we found a baby calf left to die in the back of a barn,” she recalled. “Somehow we got it into the back of the car and nursed it back to health.”

She later recalled when another baby animal was rescued; this time it was a lion cub.

This cub was not an orphan abandoned in the wild; instead, it was for sale at a flea market. Wyatt’s grandmother purchased the cub and later found a home for it in a zoo.

Unfortunately, seeing an exotic animal like a lion cub for sale was not an unusual occurrence. “The laws haven’t changed. You can still do that.”

The sale of exotic animals endangers the buyers as well as the animals themselves. A cute tiger cub can grow into a huge, powerful wild animal capable of killing a human being. Wyatt recalled one instance in which a girl posing for her prom pictures was mauled by a supposedly “tame” tiger being used as a photo prop.

Wyatt said as she learned more about animal cruelty in West Virginia, she saw that people were not being prosecuted for it.

Animal cruelty is currently a misdemeanor offense punishable with up to 6 months in jail and a fine of up to $2,000.

“It’s a measly sentence and nothing compared to what the animals go through, ” she said. “Our laws in West Virginia are very lax concerning animal cruelty, and I would like to see a felony penalty for at least the second count of animal cruelty. Now you can be charged more for embezzling money or stealing a car.”

Wyatt said she saw another problem relating to animals two years ago while volunteering at the Mercer County Animal Shelter: Pet owners who do not license their animals. In some cases, owners had to pay adoption fees because they did not have any license or even a photograph to prove that the dog in question truly belonged to them.

“I really think that we should somehow have a system to make sure dogs are properly tagged, “ Wyatt said. Without pet licensing, taxes that could be used to help support animals shelters and other services for animals are lost.

Wyatt said she has been lobbying legislators about animal cruelty laws for years, and she has had contacts with members of Congress as well.

“Senator (Robert C.) Byrd has been wonderful about speaking out on animal cruelty. If we could make an alliance with him, we could do a lot,” she said.

If the penalties for animal cruelty are increased, the laws must be used to their full extent, she said.

“First of all, we have to set an example,” Wyatt said. “When the penalties for DUI were increased, it started to help. Now DUI is never going to cease, but they (number of cases) have dropped significantly. We need to start prosecuting people for the crimes they have committed, not just giving them a slap on their wrists and letting them go.”

If people do not speak out for abused animals, nobody else will, she said.

“Animals are like children. They don’t have a voice, they can’t say we’re hungry, we’re cold, we’re hurting.”

— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com