Would you want to know if you were living next door to a convicted animal abuser? A new movement is under way to start registering animal abusers like we do sex offenders.
You'd never know it now, but 17-year-old Max had a hard start in life.
"We got Max from a shelter," said Renee Young, dog owner. "He'd been abused. All his legs had been broken. He had a tattoo on his stomach. God only knows what that was from."
And though Max has lived his last ten years in the lap of luxury, he still has some emotional scars.
"He jumps and attacks if someone comes up behind him. If you pick him up a certain way, he gets very, very agitated," said Renee.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund says animal abuse is a very serious problem in the United States and they believe not enough is being done to curb it.
"Animal abusers are in every community in this country and they range from people who commit neglect , who don't feed their animals, don't provide veterinary care, to people who commit major felonies, torture and killing of animals, long term abuse," said Joyce Tischler, Animal Legal Defense Fund.
That's why they're spearheading a movement to get states to create a central animal abuser registry, much like a sex abuser registry. They say a registry would help neighbors protect their animals and allow shelters to do better background checks before making adoptions.
"Someone convicted of felony animal cruelty or felony animal abuse would be mandated to register with the local county sheriff or police, his or her name, address, employer, photograph, fingerprints," said Tischler.
But Harvard economics professor Jeffrey Miron argues that while the registry sounds noble in theory, states just don't have the resources to enforce it.
"Making sure they're in the registry, making sure they're living where they say they're living. In my judgment those resources could be better used pursuing more important types of crimes, homicides, rapes, assault," said Miron.
Proponents argue a registry could do double-duty, protecting people as well as their animals.
A 1997 study by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Northeastern University found animal abusers are five times as likely to commit violent crimes against people.
"The FBI has been tracking animal abusers, violent animal abusers, since the early 1970s because they have found most serial killers started by violently abusing and killing animals," said Tischler.
Max is safe now, but Renee thinks a database would be very helpful to others like him.
"It's a tiny little step on our part to help the animals," she said.
Several states are considering animal abuse registry legislation. Volunteers track cases in a database called Pet-Abuse.com. More than 16,000 accused or convicted animal abusers are listed.
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