The Humane Society of the United States has named Idaho as one of its “Shameful Seven” states for lacking felony animal cruelty laws. “Forty-three states, plus Washington D.C., the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, recognize the gravity of these crimes and have felony animal cruelty laws on the books,” the group said in a news release. “Unfortunately, seven hold-out states have not kept up with the national trend of upgrading anti-cruelty laws, and still consider the torturing and killing an animal a simple misdemeanor charge.” Idaho is joined on the list by Alaska, Arkansas, South Dakota, North Dakota, Utah and Mississippi.

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