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<BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">
<P>Visionaries, </P>
<P> Thank heavens! </P>
<P> These vital members of the barnyard community may now, at long last, receive the protections they clearly need and so obviously deserve!</P>
<P> TL</P>
<P> <A href="http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WA%20XGR%20Goat%20Theft">http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WA%20XGR%20Goat%20Theft</A></P>
<P class=rdheadline><STRONG>Goatnapping would become a felony under bill passed by the House</STRONG></P>
<P class=rdbyline>THE ASSOCIATED PRESS</P><!--BEGIN ARTICLE-->
<P>OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Goats in Washington state may finally get the respect many say they deserve.</P>
<P>Under a measure passed by the House on a 93-1 vote Thursday, goats would be classified as livestock, making their theft a felony.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>
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<A href="http://ads.nwsource.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/www.seattlep-i.com/local/articles/1690936567/Middle3/Staples_0205_TM_PI-300/Staples-300.html/64313132323236323432366139383630?_RM_REDIR_=ad.doubleclick.net/jump/N3158.seattletimes/B1537218.4;sz=300x250;ord=1690936567?"></A> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>But as the law stands now, goats are only considered property, and the punishment depends solely on their worth.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>---The goat theft bill is Senate Bill 5290.</P>
<P>On the Net: Legislature: <A href="http://www.leg.wa.gov/">http://www.leg.wa.gov</A></P><!--END ARTICLE--><!--pi tools-->
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