Tightening penalties for animal abusers

There is currently an active petition to tighten penalties for animal cruelty. Since we are pretty far behind on the issue in Austria, it would be urgent to do something about it, because at the moment the punishments are more than lax. You can find all the demands in the petition, here is an excerpt:

“In our view, the level of punishment currently envisaged in Austria for animal cruelty is unreasonably low and is neither suitable for having a general or specific preventive effect. In comparison with other member states of the European Union, Austria occupies one of the lower places when it comes to criminal punishment for animal cruelty. This level of sanctions does not do justice to the extent of the animal suffering caused or the requirements of contemporary animal protection law. Furthermore, it has been proven that many animal torturers also became violent against people in their later life and a large proportion is psychologically extremely abnormal!”