Unbridled Animal-rights activists say new cruelty law fails to protect horses. by EILEEN LOH-HARRIST n amendment in state law has stripped Tennessee horses of their former protection against abuse or neglect, claim animal-rights activists who plan to challenge the statute. Activists contend that the 1997 change has made it necessary for them to go through lengthy bureaucratic channels in order to rescue mistreated horses. They say the animals usually die or suffer for days before the process is complete. "It was a bill that amended the Tennessee state cruelty law," says Grace Thompson, a board member of the Animal Protection Association of Memphis. "It reclassified horses as livestock, so horses lost the protection that companion animals have." "Horses used to be under the governing laws of the Humane Society of the U.S.," says Sharleen Larimer, the APA's equine rescue investigators. "When this law was changed they put horses under the Livestock Act, which is the same as any animal that is being raised for slaughter." Under current law, humane society officers may themselves remove "non-livestock animals" from abusive or neglectful conditions. But livestock can only be rescued by a state or county agricultural agent, a Livestock Sciences graduate, or large-animal veterinarian. Thompson says that in Shelby County agricultural agents are most often the ones who respond to abuse calls. "The ag agents work from 8 to 4. There's a limited number of them. They don't carry a beeper, they don't work on the weekends, they don't work at night, they don't work holidays these people are [often] inaccessible." Mike Countess, assistant commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, denies the law took protection away from horses, since "anyone can intervene by notifying or calling in a law-enforcement officer." Countess says the new law does protect farmers against charges of abuse from people who are not educated about "livestock in particular, which includes horses." It was amended after a Tennessee farmer was falsely accused of mistreating cattle. The APA, plus the Humane Society of the Tennessee Valley and the Nashville Coalition for Pet Protection, wants to get horses reclassified as companion animals. Animal-protection workers admit the law is still problematic, because it does not define specific knowledge or training necessary for a "humane officer." APA member Lynn Resnick says this allows interference from well-intentioned -- but not necessarily educated --animal lovers. "You get people who get emotional and upset about what they see, and they start taking matters into their own hands, and they go off the deep end." She believes farming interests might agree to reclassify horses as companion animals, as long as the law includes "qualifications about what constitutes a humane officer." "There has to be some kind of criteria set apart as to who is qualified to intervene," Resnick says. "People don't want somebody storming through their property accusing them of something they don't know anything about." Joe Pearson, director of commodity activities at the Tennessee Farm Bureau in Columbia, says classifying horses as livestock benefits farmers due to "tax preferences and so forth." Pearson has not heard about a loss of protection to Tennessee horses. "I can comfortably say that was certainly not the intent of the bill," he says. "I can't imagine that this law would have had anything to prohibit [anyone] from taking action when action is necessary. I think the process for taking care of abused animals is in place and is being exercised whenever it needs to be." The amendment was sponsored by Rep. Gene Davidson (D-Adams), and the late Sen. Tommy Burks (D-Monterey). Davidson did not return a call from the Flyer. Thompson says the APA wants horse owners "to contact their senators and representatives and tell them horses shouldn't be classified as livestock. They're companion animals. "Just because some farmer in Middle Tennessee got insulted because some woman accused him of not taking care of his cattle -- that's throwing away the baby with the bathwater," Thompson says. "Taking protection away from horses because of a single complaint is ludicrous."