Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday signed two bills focused on animal cruelty, including a measure that was a response to a dog found tied to a fence along Interstate 75 during last year’s Hurricane Milton.
“How someone treats an animal speaks volumes of their character,” Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Executive Director Dave Kerner said during a bill-signing ceremony at Big Dog Ranch in Loxahatchee.
Named “Trooper’s Law,” one of the bills (SB 150) will create a third-degree felony offense of animal cruelty for people who restrain dogs outside during natural disasters. The bill is named after Trooper, a dog found by a Florida Highway Patrol trooper after being tied to a fence during the hurricane and later adopted.
The other measure, called “Dexter’s Law,” will increase aggravated animal-cruelty penalties if people intentionally torture domesticated animals.
The bill (HB 255) also directs the Florida Department of Law Enforcement by the start of next year to put a database on its website of people convicted of animal-cruelty offenses. “Dexter’s Law” was proposed after a St. Petersburg man was accused of decapitating his newly adopted dog.
