COEUR d'ALENE - Enough, says Tony Mangan, is enough.

The president of Panhandle Equine Rescue, the nonprofit whose mission is to save abused, neglected and starved horses, wants tougher animal cruelty laws in Idaho.

It wants severe and repeat offenses to be felonies.

And it's doing something about it.

"People from other states who do have felony offenses are moving to Idaho," said Mangan, on animal abusers relocating for the softer laws. "They're telling us that to our face."

Teaming with IDRIGHTS, a nonprofit advocacy organization, Panhandle Equine Rescue is pushing a referendum to adopt felonies to the existing animal cruelty laws.

The law language, approved by the Secretary of State and Attorney General's Office, would make it a felony to maliciously torture or kill animals commonly kept as pets, or for three-time misdemeanor offenders.

It would also boost the minimum misdemeanor fine from $100 to $400 for first-time offenders.

All that's needed to toughen the laws is around 60,000 signatures.

If that many are collected statewide by spring of 2012, it will be put on the ballot in November 2012 for the voters to decide.

"We're definitely going to need help," said Candice Fry, director for Equine Rescue. "But we definitely feel that we have momentum for as much as we're working and the people we're getting together."

Once the petitions get to North Idaho, volunteers will be needed to hit the streets and collect autographs.

A first meeting hasn't been scheduled, but the goal is to hold it soon at Lakeland High School. The group will also be at parades and summer events, 4-H gatherings.

Idaho is one of three states without felony penalties for animal cruelty, with North Dakota and South Dakota the others. The lax laws have left enforcement officers with their hands tied, officials said.

"I truly wish they would change the law," said Karen Williams, Kootenai County animal control officer, whose department receives between 500-1,000 abuse or neglect calls a year. "They're just like kids - they have no voice. There's virtually no punishment for" their abusers.

Generally, misdemeanors offenses are punishable by $1,000 fine and up to a year in jail. Except for those felonies where a different punishment is indicated, every felony is subject to imprisonment for five years and a fine of no more than $50,000, or both.

The topic has come up at the legislative level before, but didn't gain support in light of laws possibly hindering farmers who raise livestock, and could be punished for needing to put their animals down.

This law wouldn't affect them.

Info or to volunteer: Equine Rescue, 687-5333