Humane Society launches anti-cruelty campaign

Following the Dec. 12 killing of 34 wild horses in Northern Nevada, the Las Vegas Valley Humane Society is launching a campaign to urge tougher laws toward animal cruelty and raise public awareness of the link between animal abuse and violent crime.

The humane society is providing petitions to valley residents asking for stronger laws against animal cruelty. Those laws would include tougher sentences and psychiatric help for abusers if it's needed.

"We don't have strong enough laws to prosecute people who abuse animals," said Tina Trenner, spokeswoman for the Las Vegas Valley Humane Society.

"We want to heighten people's awareness that if there's a child in the neighborhood who is abusing animals, they need to call the proper authorities," she added.

Three young men who attended the same high school in Reno -- two of them Marines stationed in California -- have been arrested in the Dec. 27 shootings of the 34 horses in the Virginia Range east of Reno.

Anthony Merlino, 20, of Reno is one of the three suspects, charged with grand larceny and maiming, poisoning or killing another person's animal.

Neighbors said Merlino often bragged about shooting birds in his yard, gutting a deer on his living room carpet and leaving dead ducks lying around his house.

"Nobody reported him or did anything about him," Trenner said. "Who knows what was in his mind?"

The signed petitions also will be presented to the prosecutors in the Merlino case, demanding the harshest sentence if he is found guilty, Trenner said.

The Humane Society also plans to seek support from other animal organizations out of state. Trenner said she is anticipating several thousand signatures.

The Humane Society uses examples such as serial killers Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer to support linking animal cruelty to violent crime. Dahmer, who was convicted of killing 17 people, was known to torture and mutilate neighbors' pets when he was young.

"Research shows people who abuse, mutilate or kill animals are more likely to abuse children and women," said Michelle Hussong, assistant professor of the criminal justice department at UNLV.

Elizabeth Cutter, psychologist for the Southern Desert Correctional Center, said anti-social personality types are more likely to commit violent crimes and are physically cruel to animals by the time they are 18.

"Animal cruelty is the hardest thing to prove," said Lori Macejka, officer for t he city of Las Vegas Animal Control. "What one person thinks is cruel, the owner and the law may not."

Macejka, who has been with Animal Control for five years, said most cruelty calls she's responded to are neighbors complaining that owners are not walking or playing with their dog enough.

Petitions may be picked up by calling the Humane Society at 434-2009.

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