Gov. Ron DeSantis signed two bills Wednesday that will increase fines and sentences for people convicted of abusing pets or restraining them outside during natural disasters.
Lawmakers passed the bills, HB 255 and SB 150, in honor of Dexter, a bulldog mix found decapitated and dumped in St. Petersburg, and Trooper, a bull terrier a Florida Highway Patrol officer found tied to a fence along Interstate 75 as Hurricane Milton approached.
“Current sentencing guidelines don’t match the gravity of these crimes, and it was evident that Florida law needed to do more to protect dogs from senseless violence,” DeSantis said during the bill signing ceremony in Loxahatchee.
Dexter’s Law, which will go into effect July 1, creates a sentencing multiplier for people convicted of intentionally torturing, mutilating, or killing a pet, meaning that they could serve a longer sentence. Under the bill, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement must create, by the beginning of 2026, a database of people who plead guilty or no contest or who have been convicted of animal cruelty.
At least seven counties and Tallahassee have a registry of animal abusers, according to a legislative bill analysis.
A judge sentenced the 66-year-old who decapitated Dexter days after adopting him last year and dumped his body in Fort De Soto Park to a year and 60 days in jail, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Trooper’s Law will go into effect on Oct. 1 and will make it a third-degree felony to restrain and abandon a dog outside during a natural disaster. Third-degree felonies are punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 and imprisonment for up to five years.
Trooper Orlando Morales said he’d responded to a report of an animal in distress
“It took several loops, but I thank God that He gave me the right time and right place of where to be, and after the second or third loop, I was able to find a dog clearly in water, in distress,” Morales said. “And it was a horrific moment to be in.”
