(WTXL) - Two Florida lawmakers have introduced a bill that would make acts of animal cruelty and bestiality a federal felony.
According to a report by the Orlando Sentinel, two U.S. congressmen, Rep. Ted Deutch (D-West Boca) and Vern Buchanan (R-Sarasota), have reintroduced the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act.
The bill would target "crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating and impaling animals" as well as those who sexually exploit them. If passed, someone convicted of those crimes could spend up to seven years in prison.
A law was passed in 2010 that targeted animal abuse videos, but didn't create any penalties for offenses not on film.
U.S. Senators, according to the Orlando Sentinel, have passed the PACT act twice before, however the measure was blocked by a former judiciary chairman.
Most states have laws making certain types of animal cruelty a felony offense, according to the Human Society of the United States, other offensives are considered a misdemeanor.
