‘Abuse equals abuse': Protect MI Pet rallies in Lansing for animal justice

LANSING, Mich. — Joell Gabriel smiled when she talked about her dog Bear. She immediately referred to him as a "very sweet boy" and "a smart dog" when asked what kind of dog he was.

“Great personality. We watched him be born and had an awesome connection with him,” Gabriel said as she chuckled. “He got his name Bear because he carried a teddy bear all the time.”

Tuesday, Gabriel, her son Trenton and his girlfriend Mariah Burnett carried posters with Bear's picture on it.

Gabriel said on October 1, 2021 Bear was shot and killed when he was just two years old. They were able to get the suspect prosecuted but it wasn’t easy.

“I stuck with it. I made calls constantly to the prosecutor,” she recalled. “I kept Bear in our pets freezer from October 1 until mid-February before they agreed to bring him down here and have a necropsy done on him to prove the directions of the shots.”

Now, she returned to Lansing to join others in the fight for animal justice. She and her family drove down two hours from Grayling, Michigan to attend the Protect MI Pet rally on the steps of the capitol building.

“We didn’t want his death to be in vain,” Gabriel said as she began to cry. “So, I’m activated for several other families in northern Michigan whose sadly pets have been killed by neighbors even as early as today. We just had a former student of mine whose dog was killed Easter morning when his dog crossed into the neighbor's yard. So, I will do whatever I can for animal rights.”

Dozens of people from around the state joined the Gabriels for the rally and subsequent march. Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson, who also authored the Protect MI Pet ballot initiative, organized it.

Lauren Edwards Fox 17

“We see that abuse equals abuse,” Swanson said. “If you’re going to starve, beat, torture an animal to death, there’s a good chance you’re going to do it to a domestic partner, a child, an elder or another animal and also cases of mass shootings.”

According to Protect MI Pet, 43 percent of school shooters have previously harmed animals.

Sheriff Swanson said his goal is to get it on the November 2024 ballot. If it’s passed, the bill will hold abusers accountable by putting convicted abusers’ names on a registry and forcing them to give up their right to own a pet. It’ll also re-home the animals that were taken from their care immediately.

“In Michigan domestic pets and companion animals, when they’re rescued from a criminal case, are treated as property. That means that if the owner doesn’t give up the right to that animal they’re stuck in animal control for years across the state,” he said. “So, you think you’re rescuing them but they’re now in cages. We’re going to close that loophole within 22 days of the first probable cause hearing [and] give it to people out here and re-homed.”

Protect MI Pet said that animal abuse in Michigan has increased four times since 2016.

A number of animal shelters and humane societies agreed and said they see this firsthand.

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“We’ve had dogs that were left in a basement and the people were just throwing down pizza slices for them to eat,” said Mari Brooks with the Humane Society of Genesee County. “We’ve had dogs with embedded collars. We’ve had a dog that was caught on fire.”

Brooks said she was grateful to have Sheriff Swanson spearhead the charge to get the ballot initiative passed. It first has to be passed by lawmakers. If that doesn’t work then he’ll need 750,000 signatures to get it on the ballot in 2024.

Swanson said he’s confident it’ll get passed.

Gabriel hopes so. In the meantime, she said she’s going to continue to fight for animal rights.

“I think it’s a part of the healing process too,” Gabriel said. “So, when I found out about this group I knew I had to do it and had to be part of it.”