VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – A woman from Volusia County is taking steps to protect animals by creating legislation that would start a statewide database listing people charged with animal abuse.
The proposed bills in the Senate and House would make it a quick search for those adopting animals, ensuring pets do not end up in the wrong hands.
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Currently, Volusia County is the only county in Florida with an animal abuser database. This initiative, if passed, would extend the database statewide, allowing shelters and rescues to quickly verify the background of potential adopters.
She is also the driving force behind Ponce’s Law which increases the chances of animal abusers going to jail and allows a judge to bar someone convicted of animal cruelty from owning a pet.
“The first month that ours was up here in the county, two different people went to our local shelter, Halifax Humane Society, and they were both in the database,” she said.
Darino is now pushing for the idea to be implemented across the state.
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“There’s a lot of animal abuse right now going on and a lot of animals that people keep getting after they’ve been charged with animal cruelty,” she said.
If the bills pass, the statewide system would be integrated into the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s (FDLE) website. The database would automatically include anyone convicted, or those who have pleaded guilty or no contest to animal abuse charges, regardless of adjudication. It would be connected to local court systems throughout Florida.
“In Volusia County, every day any animal abuse case that happens or people are charged with, it goes into the database here in the county,” Darino explained.
The proposed database would be an addition to Ponce’s Law, which Darino helped pass in 2018. Named after a puppy brutally killed by its owner in Ponce Inlet, Ponce’s Law increases penalties for animal cruelty and allows judges to ban convicted abusers from owning pets.
“What’s important is you could drive from any part of Florida to try to adopt and we’re going to be able to identify that that person has abused or harmed an animal,” said Sean Hawkins, CEO of Halifax Humane Society.
Hawkins said they already use the Volusia County database and incorporate it into their system, but they often see people traveling in to adopt pets from other areas in the state.
“We want to do everything we can to place homeless animals like Loki into new homes but we’re also not going to place an animal into an unsafe environment,” he said.