Dec. 21 (UPI) — A Wisconsin man was sentenced Wednesday for distributing a video depicting animal abuse in violation of the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act.
Kenneth J. Herrera, 40, of Soldiers Grove, Wis., previously pleaded guilty in creating, selling and distributing the video, which depicts a monkey being physically abused.
According to a court statement, Herrera in 2021 paid a videographer in Indonesia $100 for the video and sent graphic instructions for how the animal should be mistreated.
The FBI and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigated the case.
“The primary mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and our specific role in the Office of Law Enforcement, is to protect all wildlife from being unlawfully commercialized, in whatever form we find it,” Assistant Director Edward Grace of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement said in a statement.
The PACT Act, signed into law in 2019, revises and expands criminal provisions with respect to animal crushing. Animal crushing includes “burning, suffocating, impaling or causing serious bodily injury to animals.”
Under the act, it is illegal to create or distribute depictions of animal crushing to be sold or distributed internationally or between states.
Herrera was sentenced to 12 months and one day for violating the PACT Act. The judge also sentenced Herrera to three years of supervised release and to pay a $5,000 fine.
“Video recordings of animal torture are cruel, inhumane and illegal,” said U.S. Attorney Timothy M. O’Shea for the Western District of Wisconsin, adding there is evidence that animal torture can be a precursor to other violent acts.
Animal cruelty can be a predictive or co-occurring crime with violence against humans. According to FBI statistics, 16% of offenders started abusing animals before graduating to violent crimes against humans.
Additionally, because companion animals are often a source of comfort to victims of domestic abuse, they can often be exploited by abusers to punish the victim. Seventy-five percent of abused women who have companion animals reported a history of their companion animal being threatened or harmed by their intimate partner, according to FBI data.