The Utah Legislature is getting closer to making it a crime to harass livestock. HB217 won approval in the Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee yesterday and now heads to the full Senate.

It already won house approval. Scott Chew, a Republican from Jensen, said he drafted the bill after a group of youth harassed livestock in his county last summer and walked away with no charges.

Several calves were killed in the incident. The bill will outlaw harassment through the use of motorized vehicles, dogs or drones – making it a class B misdemeanor for a first offense, or a Class A misdemeanor for a repeat offender or if livestock are seriously injured or killed.