Committee approves tougher trespass penalty for items thrown into zoo enclosures

The Georgia Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved a subcommittee recommendation to advance a bill (LC481782S) that expands criminal trespass to cover people who knowingly cause a foreign object to enter an animal enclosure or interfere with a zoo cage’s operation or integrity.

The sponsor said the measure responds to incidents at Zoo Atlanta and other facilities where patrons have thrown coins, shoes and other objects into exhibits, sometimes causing animal injuries. "We have seen... folks are throwing shoes and rocks, coins, all kinds of things that animals ingest and it's causing a lot of harm to these animals," Brian Hudson of the Hudson Group testified for Zoo Atlanta.

The sponsor told lawmakers the Department of Agriculture reviewed the language and was comfortable with the draft on the House side. Committee members asked a few clarifying questions, and the panel made a lighthearted reference to carrying a stuffed monkey during floor presentation. The committee moved a do‑pass motion and approved it unanimously by raised hands; the sponsor arranged for Senate carrying duties to be assigned.

The committee recorded the measure as passed out of committee without recorded dissent.