These people need to be stopped

Let's be clear: I am in favor of laws against abuse of animals. This shit is going way too far:

Massachusetts State Senator Mark Montigny (D-New Bedford) recently introduced a bill that would allow private individuals to file a lawsuit for the “protection and humane treatment of animals.”   This is of great concern for all sportsmen, farmers, and dog owners.Animal cruelty is already a crime in Massachusetts just as it is across the country.  Animal cruelty laws are enforced by experienced law enforcement officers, including local police forces and animal control officers, who are trained on what is and is not animal cruelty under the law and how to spot it.Senate Bill 767 would end this proven system and instead give private citizens the ability to sue animal owners over what they perceive to be “animal cruelty” under the law.“Under this bill, animal rights activists would be able to sue anyone – including sportsmen, farmers, and dog owners – whenever and wherever they think animal cruelty is being committed,” said Evan Heusinkveld, USSA’s Director of Government Affairs.  “This could force sportsmen and women who have done nothing wrong to spend thousands of dollars to defend themselves against animal rights zealots looking to take them to court.”For example, if an animal rights activist thinks common dog training practices—such as using a shock collar or tethering—are inhumane, they would now be able to sue the sporting dog owner or trainer claiming animal cruelty.  Likewise, an activist that disapproves of certain farming practices could sue farmers for the practices they consider cruel.  Even if a judge ultimately throws out the case, the animal’s owner will likely have had to spend a good deal of money and time fighting the bogus lawsuit.

I have lived, once upon a time, on a multiple-acre property with two mid-sized, free-ranging dogs.  We installed the Invisible Fence, which shocks the dogs if they try to go past it. One of them got it, one didn't. For the one that didn't, we had to to up, and up, and up the amount of voltage that could be delivered. We reached the maximum the company offered, and the dog didn't care. She wanted out and ran past the fence regardless.

Under this proposed law, I apparently could be sued by somebody with no connection to me, the dogs or anything. No matter that keeping the dog on my property would keep her from being hit by a car, or running off and getting lost, then starving to death in the wild (not even unlikely where I live). Some random fuck could sue me and force me to defend myself at my expense. This kind of shit convinces me that for civil suits, we need to institute "loser pays" rules. As long as asshats can sue somebody and pay no penalty if they lose, they will. Let's make it hurt.