ACTION ALERT

One more emergency faces us in Austin! With the legislative season coming to a close, the Criminal Justice Committee is looking at HB 3930, a bill that would make it IMPOSSIBLE for Habitat for Horses to continue aiding law enforcement in the civil seizure of horses due to neglect and starvation. We are only able to receive horses from Texas Courts because we know that there is no right of appeal for the owner who starved and neglected them. We start the rehabilitation process on the horses as soon as the court awards them to us and usually, within three to nine months, the horses are ready to start a new life in an adoptive home.

Now the Texas Legislature wants to take that away by allowing the owner to appeal, a process that might take YEARS and leave us maintaining the horses during all that time, with the possibility that the horses would be returned to the owner! At an average cost of $200 per month per horse, excluding vet bills, we simply could no longer receive horses from the courts.

Can you imagine facing a situation where 10 starved horses are being held by law enforcement and they call Habitat for Horses for help? That's something that happens several times a week. But what if the Sheriff asks us to house, feed and medically treat the horses for three years with the possibility of having to return the horses to the owner and that the horses are never fully ours during that time, that they cannot be adopted out, that every medical issue has to be approved by the court? That's exactly what will happen should HB 3930 pass.
HB 3930 will be heard Monday afternoon in the Senate Committee of Criminal Jurisprudence in Room E1.016. We need both members and non-members to be there, to sign in as being against this bill and, if you want, to speak out and be heard.

If you can't go, please call the offices of the members of the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee Monday morning and let them know how completely destructive this bill is to the whole concept of rehabilitation and adoption by non-profit humane organizations. This bill not only affects equine rescues, but dogs and cats, birds – every animal that is seized due to neglect and starvation in the State of Texas. Animal Cops will be a thing of the past because non-profit humane organizations, including the SPCA's, will not be able to fund the long term holding of animals while the appeal process works through the court system.

This session of the Texas Legislature is almost over. This should be the last Action Alert necessary for the State, but it is vitally important. Please call these folks Monday morning

Senate Committee on Criminal Justice

Senator            (512) Phone / Fax   Email
John J. Carona (R) 463-0116 / 463-3135 john.carona@senate.state.tx.us
Robert F. Deuell (R) 463-0102 / 463-7202 robert.deuell@senate.state.tx.us
Rodney Ellis (D) 463-0113 / 463-0006 rodney.ellis@senate.state.tx.us
Glenn Hegar (R) 463-0118 / 475-3736 glenn.hegar@senate.state.tx.us
Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa (D) 463-0120 / 463-0229 juan.hinojosa@senate.state.tx.us
Kel Seliger (R) 463-0131 / 475-3733 kel.seliger@senate.state.tx.us
John Whitmire (D) 463-0115 / 475-3737 john.whitmire@senate.state.tx.us

What will happen if we are denied the ownership of starved horses by the civil court?

Fifty-three horses were seized, the majority of them extremely thin, some would be considered little more than "a bag of bones." It's a story heard time and again within our organization. Efforts had been made to work with the owner, to provide hay or to help the owner reduce the number of horses but, despite our efforts, the neglect and starvation continued. As with so many cases, when all efforts fail we turn to law enforcement and the court system to bring the horses to safety. In Texas, our cases are presented to the courts under Section 821 of the Texas Health and Safety Code, a civil code directing actions of the court in cases involving animal cruelty. Under that section, the case is heard within 10 days and should the owner be found to have failed to provide the necessary food, care and shelter to maintain the horse in a good state of health, the court has three options: a) sell the animals at a local auction, b) euthanize the animals or c) give the animals to a non-profit shelter or humane organization such as Habitat for Horses.

If the horses are given to a humane organization, the owner loses the right of appeal, meaning that the animals can then be medically treated, rehabilitated and adopted to approved homes, a process that, depending on the condition of the horse, might take anywhere from three months to nine months, with an investment by our organization of between $500 to several thousand dollars per horse. With an average adoption fee of around $600 per horse, Habitat for Horses never recovers our investment.

The denial of the right to appeal when the animals are given to a non-profit came about because of a massive dog seizure by the Houston SPCA in 1994 and was upheld by the Texas Court of Appeals in 1995 in Pitts vs, The State of Texas. The determining factor was the amount of money necessary to maintain the dogs through the appeals process. When considering a case involving horses, such as these 53 that were seized and turned over to Habitat for Horses, the expense would be far greater than our financial ability to handle. In place of the 3 to 9 month rehabilitation period prior to adoption, we would be looking at maintaining the horses for years at an average cost of $200 per month per horse just for maintenance, excluding vet bills.

Certainly there is an argument for the right to appeal in cases involving personal property, but when living animals are involved, the cost of maintaining them and the physical and mental health of the animals must be considered. The Texas Legislature decided a long time ago that the appeal process should not be allowed under the civil seizure of animals when the animals are given to a humane organization. This is one law that they need to leave alone. Please call them Monday morning, prior to the Committee Hearing at 1:30.
According to the Texas Appeals Court:

"The legislature has the power to limit the right of appeal.   Seale v. McCallum, 116 Tex. 662, 287 S.W. 45 (1926).   The legislature, by statute, can entrust special and limited jurisdiction to justice of the peace courts from which no appeal exists.  Field v. Anderson, 1 Tex. 437 (1846).

"The legislature, through Chapter 821, Subchapter B. of the Texas Health and Safety Code, provided the justice courts with jurisdiction over a special procedure for removal and forfeiture of animals found in conditions that constitute cruel treatment.  Tex. Health & Safety Code Ann. §  821.021 et seq.   The legislature specifically limited the right of appeal in these cases to those involving animals ordered sold at public auction.  Tex. Health & Safety Code Ann. §  821.025 (Vernon 1992).   No other right of appeal was created.   The right of appeal must be expressed in plain and unambiguous language and a statute may not be liberally interpreted to create that right where it does not exist.  Boyd v. Dean, 515 S.W.2d 753 (Tex.Civ.App.-- Beaumont 1974, no writ)."