Bismarck, ND (KCSi-T.V. News Sept. 4, 2012) — North Dakota Secretary of State Al Jaeger announced Tuesday that the North Dakotans to Stop Animal Cruelty ballot measure to strengthen the penalties for extreme acts of cruelty to dogs, cats and horses in North Dakota has been approved for inclusion on the November ballot.

North Dakotans to Stop Animal Cruelty—the coalition of animal protection advocates, veterinarians and animal sheltering and rescue professionals that turned in more than 25,000 signatures in support of the measure to Jaeger

North Dakotans to Stop Animal Cruelty needed to submit 13,452 valid signatures to Secretary of State Al Jaeger to qualify the measure for the November ballot, and surpassed that total by 88 percent, submitting 25,318 signatures collected by its volunteer-only signature gatherers.

A news release from the organization says, Measure 5 is narrowly crafted to make the worst types of cruelty to dogs, cats and horses a felony — such as maliciously or intentionally burning, crushing, suffocating, impaling and dismembering animals — but all other types of cruelty still would be covered by existing statutes in the North Dakota Century Code.

It says the measure is limited to dogs, cats and horses, and it explicitly states that it does not have any impact on agriculture, hunting or other legal activities.

North Dakota is one of only two states in the country without felony provisions for the most extreme acts of animal cruelty (South Dakota is the other state).