Horse Abuse to be a Class-A Felony

 
Not just a felony, but a Class-A Felony. That puts horse abuse on par with assault, homicide and arson.
That’s the exciting part.
The motivation behind this change is to gather data on animal abuse nation-wide. The FBI hopes this will improve their ability to track crime; animal abuse is frequently an indicator of later violent tendencies, and many organized crime groups are involved in such activities as dog fighting.

What is animal abuse?

The definition of animal abuse has often felt.. vague and hazy. If you’ve ever tried to report animal abuse to the appropriate authorities you’ll understand what I mean.
The FBI, however, defines animal abuse as:

Intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly taking an action that mistreats or kills any animal without just cause, such as torturing, tormenting, mutilation, maiming, poisoning, or abandonment. Included are instances of duty to provide care, e.g., shelter, food, water, care if sick or injured; transporting or confining an animal in a manner likely to cause injury or death; causing an animal to fight with another; inflicting excessive or repeated unnecessary pain or suffering, e.g., uses objects to beat or injure an animal. This definition does not include proper maintenance of animals for show or sport; use of animals for food, lawful hunting, fishing or trapping.

http://www.writingofriding.com/in-the-media/fbi-makes-horse-abuse-felony/