This comes after a brutally abused puppy had her leg and ears cut off in a terrible case of abuse back in September. The puppy, named Miss Harper, was reunited with her mom, Missy, at My Pets Vet in Huntington. Missy was living with Miss Harper's alleged abusers, but was rescued Wednesday.

The Nassau County SPCA says that if there had been greater criminal penalties for animal cruelty, perhaps Missy could have been removed from the home earlier.

Gary Rogers, a spokesman for the Nassau County SPCA, says proposals to tighten animal cruelty laws in Albany have been met with great opposition from upstate farmers.

Joseph Gergela, of the Long Island Farm Bureau, says the situation is not that they don't want to protect animals but that they don't want jurisdiction given to people who do not understand normal farming practices.