[Vision2020] FINALLY!

[Tim Lohrmann]

Visionaries, 

      Thank heavens! 

     These vital members of the barnyard community may now, at long last, receive the protections they clearly need and so obviously deserve!

               TL

  http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WA%20XGR%20Goat%20Theft

Goatnapping would become a felony under bill passed by the House

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Goats in Washington state may finally get the respect many say they deserve.

Under a measure passed by the House on a 93-1 vote Thursday, goats would be classified as livestock, making their theft a felony.

The Senate passed the bill 46-0 in February. Due to an amendment made by a House committee, it will go back to the Senate for concurrence before going to Gov. Christine Gregoire, who is expected to sign it.

Since the state currently doesn't designate goats as livestock, stealing them is usually only a misdemeanor. Theft of "official" livestock - like horses, mules, pigs or sheep - is a felony.

Livestock thieves are charged according to their motives. If the theft was done with intention to sell or exchange the animal, the culprit faces first-degree theft, which is punishable by up to 10 years in jail and $20,000 in fines. If they steal it to keep - or eat - for themselves, the charges are slightly less, and they face up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

  But as the law stands now, goats are only considered property, and the punishment depends solely on their worth.

As of Jan. 1, the state had 22,500 goats, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's agricultural statistics service in Olympia. In 1997, there were 15,992.

---The goat theft bill is Senate Bill 5290.

On the Net: Legislature: http://www.leg.wa.gov

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