A bill that would outlaw abandoning a pet outdoors during a natural disaster – prompted by a viral video of a bull terrier rescued last year ahead of an approaching hurricane – passed its first hurdle Tuesday in the Legislature with unanimous approval.
The Senate Criminal Justice Committee approved the bill 8-0 during a brief hearing in Tallahassee. The bill’s sponsor in the Senate referred to the proposal as “Trooper’s Law,” named after the dog tied to a pole in standing water along Interstate 75 near Tampa before a Florida Highway Patrol trooper saved him.
The Animal Control Association, Humane Society of the United States and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office supported the bill. So did Sen. Jason Pizzo of Hollywood, one of the Democrats on the Republican-led committee.
“Great bill, great idea…Thank you for bringing this very good bill, sir,” Pizzo said to Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Pensacola, who sponsored the bill, during the debate portion of the hearing.
The bill would increase the penalties for abandoning animals using a restraint during a natural disaster and make doing so a third-degree felony, which could lead to a five-year prison sentence and a fine of up to $10,000.
If passed, the bill would take effect July 1. There is a companion bill in the House filed by Reps. Philip Griffitts, R-Panama City, and Susan Plasencia, R-Winter Park.
The idea for the bill is a result of a heart-felt story after a Florida man left a bull terrier restrained to a pole as Category 5 Hurricane Milton approached Florida back in October. The highway patrol found the dog – trembling and in distress – tied to a pole in standing water. The agency posted a video on social media showing the black-and-white dog tied in an area where flooding water almost covered its legs. The video went viral, and the dog was renamed Trooper.
Investigators said Giovanny Aldama Garcia, 23, of Ruskin, which is east of St. Petersburg, had owned the dog, which he called Jumbo, since it was a puppy and had been trying unsuccessfully to get rid of the dog for weeks.
Court records said Aldama Garcia’s mother, Mabel Garcia Gomez, 53, stopped the family’s car on I-75 and let the dog out of the vehicle in the rain. The family was evacuating to Georgia ahead of the raging hurricane. Aldama Garcia said he last saw the dog in standing water and left it behind.
Trooper was later adopted by Frank and Carla Spina of Parkland in South Florida.
___This story was produced by Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. The reporters can be reached at gvelasquezneira@ufl.edu. You can donate to support our students here.