Animal Planet reports that the crime of animal cruelty, formerly placed in the ambiguous "all other offense" category in the eyes of the law, will now be considered a "crime against society" -- similar to the way assault on a human is -- and investigated by the FBI. 

This will make animal cruelty cases much easier to track because, where before, "a variety of local law enforcement agencies, animal control officers and humane society agents enforced animal cruelty laws," now the Federal Bureau of Investigation will follow them using the Uniform Crime Report (UCR), along with local agencies' reports.

Animal Planet goes on to say:

Simply put, animal cruelty is now a "crime against society" and this new classification should motivate law enforcement agencies to pay greater attention to animal cruelty cases - particularly those within the four categories: simple/gross neglect, intentional abuse and torture, organized abuse and animal sexual abuse.

Score one for Sparky!

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