In 2017, a Florida man named Travis Archer beat and stabbed his dog Ponce to death. He was charged, pleaded no contest, and convicted. He even did jail time and was banned from owning a pet for 3 years. The abuse was so heinous that the state actually implemented a new law for harsher animal abuse punishment in his dog's name: Ponce's Law.
Then on Friday, December 18th, 2020, a Florida court said he could own an animal again after the three years were up. This is a grievous mistake!
Sign now to demand Florida legislators pass a law that anyone convicted of breaking Ponce's Law faces a lifetime ban on pet ownership!
The court did not say he could own an animal again because they thought it was a good idea or that he wouldn't abuse one; they just felt that imposing a lifetime ban under the current circumstances was beyond their jurisdiction. The way to change that is to create a new law that says anyone who breaks Ponce's Law can never own a pet again!
People who abuse animals are cowards. Taking your rage out on a defenseless animal is, in itself, indefensible. A three year limit on pet ownership after violently stabbing and beating your dog to death does not make sense. Now that this perpetrator has the freedom to adopt companion creatures again, there's no reason to believe he won't immediately begin subjecting them to kind of violence again. We need to keep people like this as far away from animals as possible.
Please sign the petition to tell Florida you will not accept anything less than a lifetime ban on pet ownership for this kind of animal abuser!
