Florida Senate Bill Will Ban Dogs From Sticking Their Heads Out Of Car Windows To Keep Them Safe

A new bill has been proposed in Florida that would prohibit drivers from allowing their dogs to stick their heads out of car windows.

The suggested ban is contained in SB932, a sweeping animal welfare bill sponsored by Democratic Sen. Lauren Book that would also criminalize ‘declawn cats’.

It would also ban dogs from being transported in truck bays and require that they be restrained in a ‘dog crate.’

‘A person may not allow a dog to extend its head or any other part of the body out of the window of a motor vehicle while the person is driving the motor vehicle on a public highway,’ the bill says.

It ran in the state senate on Friday and would still have to go through both houses of the Florida Legislature and could be vetoed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

‘A person may not allow a dog to extend its head or any other part of the body out of the window of a motor vehicle while the person is operating the motor vehicle,’ the bill states.

The bill would also require the Department of Law Enforcement to maintain an online registry of convicted animal abusers.

Sherry Silk, executive director of the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, said she had mixed feelings about the bill.

“I haven’t seen any problems with dogs sticking their heads out of windows and we see 50,000 dogs a year,” he told DailyMail.com.

“We support anything that helps animals and the treatment of animals, but I don’t see how this is a problem in the grand scheme of things. Some vets will say things could fly in their faces, but I don’t see that as a real threat,” he added.

However, Silk said that in Florida, traveling on the highways can be dangerous for dogs in truck parks.

“I’m more worried about people in Florida who have their dogs in the back of a pickup truck, because they might see a cat or something and jump out,” she said. There are harnesses that people can use.

The bill also proposes penalties for people who transport dogs without restrictions in trucks. “A dog being transported in the open bed of a pickup truck should be restrained by using a dog crate built to prevent the dog from escaping,” he states.

The bill also includes provisions to make it illegal to transport a dog “on the running board, fender, hood or roof of a motor vehicle.” Dogs may also not be transported in a car that is being towed.

The sweeping animal welfare bill would also prevent the declawing of cats and the sale of rabbits in certain months and places.

Another aspect of the bill that Silk was happy to see was the rules about rabbits as pets. Broom’s bill would ban the sale of rabbits on the streets and in parking lots, as well as in the Easter months.

“People in our community buy a rabbit, so it’s not an easy pet, so they just turn them loose,” he said. He suggested that the problem may be so acute that his organization simply cannot process all the rabbits that come their way at certain times of the year.

Silk said she had seen positive legislative changes in the past decade to protect animals, but enforcement could not be taken for granted. “We’ve seen a lot of great laws, but no one to enforce them,” she said.

local television station WINK reported that if the bill passes and people are caught, they could be ticketed for a moving violation, but the charges would not count as moving violations.