Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has heard the pleas of Utahns who want to see stronger animal torture penalties.
    He anticipates calling a special legislative session later this year primarily to change the law to allow for a February 2008 election on a school voucher referendum.
    But he is also considering one other addition to that special session agenda.
    "You might throw on Henry's Law, but probably nothing else," Huntsman said Friday. "But for the tyranny of the clock it would have been done this last legislative session."
    Under the state Constitution, the session ends at midnight on the 45th day.
    Rural lawmakers continued to debate the proposal, which would boost animal torture from a misdemeanor to a felony, until the last few minutes, essentially killing the measure.
    But animal-rights activists and pet lovers have continued to call Huntsman's office and send letters asking him for a special session.
    Huntsman spokeswoman Lisa Roskelley said the governor has received at least 60 calls this week and a petition, which is an astounding amount of public comment for any issue seven weeks after the session ended.
    "I have had a lot of input on this," Huntsman said. "This one has been fairly consistent in terms of people who would like to see it done."
    Huntsman has not settled on a date for a special session, but it would most likely take place before late fall, when the governor and the Legislature will move back into the remodeled Capitol.
    Salt Lake City Democratic Sen. Gene Davis said he was "delighted" that the governor would consider a special session to enhance animal torture penalties.
    "Now I will get it prepared," said Davis, the bill's sponsor.
    But that doesn't mean Huntsman and Davis won't face some stiff opposition, particularly from rural legislators who worry the law could be used to hurt farmers or ranchers.
    The bill has an exclusion for standard animal husbandry practices.
    Senate President John Valentine offers a compromise - "I would support a change in the animal cruelty law that would make the second offense a felony."
    At this point, Davis plans to stick with the original bill, nicknamed Henry's Law.
    Henry is a black Chihuahua whose former owner tortured him. Marc Vincent blinded the dog with a leaf blower and threw him into an oven for five minutes. Vincent was convicted of animal cruelty, a misdemeanor, in November.
    Under this proposal, his crime would have been a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.