1. ASPCA Saves 26 Severely Neglected Dogs—27 Others Found Dead
On Wednesday, February 17, under the authority of the Washington County (GA) Sheriff's Office, the ASPCA Field Investigations
and Response Team assisted in the rescue of 26 Pit Bulls near Sandersville, Georgia.
The dogs, allegedly used for fighting
and breeding, were found chained to tire axles and posts scattering the 25-acre property. Left to starve without sufficient
food, water or adequate shelter from freezing temperatures, all were severely emaciated and suffering from obvious neglect,
including broken bones, wounds and a variety of infections. An additional 27 dogs were found dead and in various stages of
decomposition.
"It's bad enough that these dogs were treated cruelly and raised in horrible conditions," said Tim Rickey,
the ASPCA Senior Director of Field Investigations and Response. "But to leave them like this to starve is incomprehensible
and speaks exactly to the kinds of heinous crimes the ASPCA fights day in and day out."
Authorities believe the
dogs had been used for fighting. "They bear the battle scars consistent with those of fighting dogs," Rickey said.
"Being chained 24/7 is no way to live—they have lived miserable lives, and are just starved for human contact."
With the help of other rescue organizations, including the United Animal Nations and Sumter DART (Disaster Animal
Response Team), the dogs were safely transferred to an emergency shelter in Washington County where they received immediate
triage by a team of veterinarians, including Dr. Melinda Merck, ASPCA Senior Director of Veterinary Forensics, and Dr. Robert
Reisman, ASPCA Coordinator of Abuse Cases. They were assisted by ASPCA veterinary technicians and Dr. Jason Byrd, Associate
Director of the Center for Forensic Medicine at the University of Florida.
Washington County authorities arrested the caretaker of the animals and have charged him with two felonies:
one for animal abuse of a dog and one for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He was also charged with
25 misdemeanor counts of animal abuse. Other arrests and animal cruelty charges are anticipated.
"We are grateful to be able to respond to this situation, and for the agencies assisting us," said Deputy
Lynn Schlup of the Washington County Sheriff's Office, who contacted the ASPCA for assistance.
Video
courtesy of Channel 6 WJBF
The dogs will be cared for at the temporary shelter by volunteers of United Animal
Nations until a forfeiture hearing. For the latest information about the rescued dogs, please visit ASPCA.org.
2.
Three-Legged Pooch Wins Top Honors at the ASPCA Talent Show
On February 12, a three-legged Pit Bull named Prince was crowned top dog at the ASPCA’s 5th Annual Talent Competition for shelter pups in New York City. The talented two
year old wowed the crowd as a major league “catcher,” expertly retrieving three strikes from his equally skilled
handler/pitcher.
Prince and eight other dogs demonstrated their diverse talents in front of a panel of celebrity judges
and an adoring crowd at our Adoption Center. Judges included Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Roberta Flack, Tony award-winning
actress Bernadette Peters, ballroom dance champion and choreographer from So You Think You Can Dance Melanie LaPatin
and Assistant Director of ASPCA Humane Law Enforcement Joseph Pentangelo.
“The talent show demonstrates the resilience
of these wonderful dogs,” says Gail Buchwald, Senior Vice President of the ASPCA Adoption Center, “but the real
prize will be finding their two-legged soul mates and homes to call their own.”
We’re happy to report that
three of Prince’s fellow contestants were adopted in the days following the big show: Stormy, a big, beautiful Pit girl;
Ted, a Saint Bernard mix; and sun-worshipping Sebastian, who delighted the audience with his limbo and skateboarding skills.
On January 11, after a harrowing month spent in Ohio, a pooch named JoJo was returned to his pet parents, Mark and
Alejandra Ryan of Manhattan, thanks to his microchip, HomeAgain membership and the ASPCA. HomeAgain is a microchip registration
and lost pet recovery service that reunites missing animals with their families.
HomeAgain membership includes travel
assistance for pets who are found more than 500 miles away from home, and covers the cost of flying these pets back to their
families. “The ASPCA, acting on behalf of HomeAgain, manages these cases—coordinating travel and making connections
to ensure that all goes well,” explains Mindy Bough, Senior Director of Client Services at the ASPCA. “It is a
special and fulfilling way to contribute.”
No doubt JoJo is grateful. In 2009, the Ryans adopted the friendly
Lab mix from an NYC rescue group, and all was rosy until the holidays, when JoJo traveled to Columbus, OH, to spend time with
Mark’s family. While Mark and Alejandra were abroad, the energetic pooch bolted from his kennel, causing worried relatives
to spend their holidays searching for the missing pup.
“There were several sightings, one on Christmas Day even, but nobody could catch him,” says Katie Lindquist,
ASPCA Client Services Associate.
Finally, Franklin County Animal Control officials pinpointed JoJo’s whereabouts
and caught the dog with a gentle trap. The pooch was scanned for a microchip, and his microchip number was called in to HomeAgain
to identify his pet parents. A teary family reunion followed at the Franklin County Animal Shelter—JoJo was a few pounds
lighter and had a minor paw injury, but otherwise seemed healthy and happy. Days later, he flew back to the Big Apple.
Microchipping can often mean the difference between temporary and permanent separation from your furry loved one.
All animals who are adopted from the ASPCA Adoption Center come with a free microchip, which is injected under a pet’s skin between the shoulder blades. It’s important
to remember that microchips are only as effective as the contact information provided to a company like HomeAgain, so please
always keep your address and phone number up-to-date.
4.
Victory: Government Adopts Stronger Rules for Organic Milk
Good news—the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) proposed regulations for the care of “organic”
dairy cows, which we asked you take action on two weeks ago, have been approved! The new rules, effective June 17, stipulate that organic milk and meat must come from livestock grazing
on pasture for at least four months of the year; 30 percent of the cows’ feed must come from grazing; and ranchers must
have a plan to protect soil and water quality.
“We are delighted to learn that so many cows will now have access
to pasture and an opportunity to graze,” says Robert Baker, ASPCA Senior Manager of Farm Animal Welfare. “We hope
this will be the first of many steps the USDA will take to align organic standards with humane standards. Consumers need to
be given an opportunity to make a ‘humane’ choice as well as a healthy choice when they choose organic products.
We welcome these initial measures toward this goal.”
We would like to give a big thanks to News Alert
readers and members of the ASPCA Advocacy Brigade who took the time to email the White House from ASPCA.org. Over the span of 15 days, more than 33,000 emails were sent!
“Clear and enforceable standards are essential
to the health and success of the market for organic agriculture,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a USDA press
release issued last Friday. “The final rule published today will give consumers confidence that organic milk or cheese
comes from cows raised on pasture, and organic family farmers the assurance that there is one, consistent pasture standard
that applies to dairy products.”
For more information on the new rules for organic milk, visit the website of
the National Organic Program.
For Immediate Release August 4, 2009
Drug Company Novartis: Activists Steal Ashes of CEO's Mother, Torch his
Hunting Lodge Association with Notorious Animal Abuser Huntingdon Life Sciences
Cited
Bern, Switzerland: Drug maker Novartis AG said
Tuesday that animal rights activists have stolen the ashes of its CEO Daniel Vasella's mother and set fire to his Austrian
hunting lodge. The message "Drop HLS Now" was spray-painted on the gravestone, indicating the company's involvement
with notorious animal abuser Huntingdon Life Sciences was the reason behind the attacks. Graffiti slogans against Novartis
and Vasella were also written on the church in Vasella's village of Risch in central Switzerland about three weeks ago, the
company said.
Although Novartis was quick to deny their continued involvement with HLS, they have refused to issue
such a statement to the animal advocacy movement concerned about animal suffering and abuse at the hands of HLS vivisectors.
Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC), has campaigned for years against the British testing laboratory Huntingdon Life Sciences,
and is active in 18 countries around the world, but on Tuesday the group denied any involvement in the Novartis attacks. According
to Novartis, attacks on houses and cars of the company employees as well as on Novartis property have grown in recent months.
In May, the company's restaurant at sports facilities in nearby St. Louis, France was damaged by fire.
Huntingdon
Life Sciences has been exposed in seven consecutive undercover investigations which exposed lab technicians simulating sex
with the animals, punching beagle puppies and violating numerous animal welfare regulations. The company kills 500 dogs and
other animals every day testing such products as oven cleaners, pesticides and pharmaceuticals. Before losing their NYSE listing
several years ago, HLS lost their listing on the London Stock Exchange, after UK campaigners exposed atrocities occurring
inside HLS facilities; the company currently teeters on the brink of bankruptcy.
A Press Officer with the North
American Animal Liberation Press Office stated: "To the best of our knowledge, there has been no claim or communique
from the Animal Liberation Front or other animal liberators regarding the burning of the home of Daniel Vasella of Novartis
or the desecration of his mother's cremated remains. Both actions are consistent, however, with those of activists fighting
for the liberation of oppressed, tortured and murdered non-human animals. HLS, with whom Novartis does business, tortures
and kills 500 innocent animals every day, and has been exposed in seven undercover investigations to be in violation of even
basic animal welfare standards. We personally can only regret that Mr. Vasella was not present in the home when it burned."
For more information visit, http://novartiskills.com/ Animal
Liberation Press Office 6320 Canoga Avenue #1500 Woodland Hills, CA 91367
Received
Anonymously: On
July 10, 2009 3 vehicles and the home of a UC Irvine vivisector were hit by the ALF. 1 of his cars (the fanciest of the
4 in front) was doused with paint stripper. 2 others had red paint poured all over them. More red paint was splattered across
his driveway, and "KILLER" was spray painted in huge red letters across his garage door so that all his neighbors
could see what a cruel, sick person they live near.
To the vivisector: The red paint on your cars and home is a reminder that these things were
purchased with the blood of tortured, innocent animals that are subjected to your sadistic experiments. We know this action
was just a minor inconvenience for you, but we hope it makes you realize that your actions have consequences. We can only
hope that one day someone will make you suffer as much as the animals in the laboratories you work in. Make the ethical decision
(if not for the innocent animals, than for your own good.) Stop vivisection. --ALF
[The Animal Liberation Front is a clandestine group of animal liberationists who
utilize economic sabotage in addition to the direct liberation of animals from conditions of abuse and imprisonment. By making
it more expensive to trade in the lives of innocent beings, the ALF maintains the atrocities are likely to occur in smaller
numbers; their goal is to abolish the exploitation, imprisonment, torture and killing of innocent, non-human animals.
Vivisection, or experimentation on animals, is not only an evil that
is perpetrated on millions of innocent animals, but is also scientifically fraudulent. While 20,000 children worldwide die
every month from lack of access to clean water, vivisectors in University of California laboratories are wasting money addicting
primates to crystal methamphetamines, gluing coils to the globes of their eyes and doing other inhumane and painful experiments
on other species of animals, including cats, dogs, pigs, mice and birds.]
Companion animals depend on humans for their
safety and well-being. Tragically, this dependency is betrayed when shelters allow these pets to be taken by Class B Dealers
for resale to research.
When
Class B dealers (animal brokers) and research facilities can obtain cats and dogs from animal shelters, it diminishes the
shelters' credibility and purpose, and betrays public trust.
KINSHIP CIRCLE PRIMARY / PERMISSION TO
CROSSPOST 5/15/09:
Shot In The Dark - Australia's Kangaroo Massacre LT PHOTO: Just outside the area where they are to be killed, remaining kangaroos
wait, trapped and exhausted... http://www.kangaroolives.com RT: Marsupials found in Australian Capital Territory, (c) Ray Drew 2007, raydrew@raydrew.net, http://www.kangaroolives.com/kangaroos.htm
============================================================= EMAIL BLOCKS: Sample letter follows. Full contact info at end of alert. =============================================================
Hey, this is one heck
of a BIG contact list! Still, its size doesn't
compare to the millions of kangaroos slaughtered annually in Australia. Sure, clicking on a petition is easier... But
we ask you to take a bit more time to copy each email block into a TO: or BCC: line of your email -- to personally
send comments. The impact is so much BIGGER.
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============================================================= GET A FORMATTED LETTER (WORD DOC): info@kinshipcircle.org Easily modify letter. Copy/paste it into an email or print letter to fax or mail. =============================================================
Honorable Officials of Australia:
Australia's assault on its national icon is disgraceful. In May
2009, the Department of Defense began to gun down 7,000 kangaroos on its vast Majura military base in Canberra,
ACT. By 5/14/09, with 3500 already dead, a court-issued injunction temporarily stopped the massacre.
Wildlife
culls are permitted to take up to 10,000 kangaroos per night. Where is the Australian government's moral compass? Please
stop authorized culls and commercial kills. I urge officials to respect and accommodate indigenous wildlife with
more national parks, nature reserves, and protected land corridors for animals to get there.
In Australia,
the internationally beloved kangaroo has become an article of trade -- to buy and sell by way of violent death. A 4/23/09
Daily Telegraph report says "tens of thousands of joeys will be decapitated, shot or clubbed to death"
under government orders to open commercial shoots across a generous swath of New South Wales.
The National
Code of Practice for the Humane Shooting of Kangaroos and Wallabies advises that babies found in a slain mother's pouch
be decapitated with a sharp blade; clubbed with a metal pipe; or slammed against a firm object. Older joeys are
bludgeoned or shot at point blank range.
Hunters spotlight kangaroos in the outback at night. They aim for their
brains, but often miss and leave kangaroos with gaping head and mouth wounds. Along with nearly four million kangaroos
commercially killed each year, hundreds of thousands of joeys die hideously.
I respectfully ask the government
to phase out its consumptive use of kangaroos and consider eco-tourism instead. Plainly stated, Australia's largest
known slaughter of land wildlife is sickening.
Thank you,
============================================================= COMPLETE CONTACT INFORMATION + NAMES/TITLES =============================================================
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS The
Hon Kevin Rudd MP, Prime Minister PO Box 6022; House of Representatives Parliament House; Canberra ACT
2600 ph: (02) 6277 7700; fax: (02) 6273 4100 web form: http://www.pm.gov.au/contact/index.cfm
Kerry Smith, Assistant Secretary, Wildlife Division Department of
Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts GPO Box 787; Canberra ACT 2601, Australia ph: +61 02-6274 1224; fax: +61
02-6274 1600 email: kerry.smith@deh.gov.au
Peter Cochrane, Director of National Parks Department of Environment,
Water, Heritage and the Arts GPO Box 787; Canberra ACT 2601 ph: 02-6274 2221; fax 02-6274 2349; email: peter.cochrane@environment.gov.au Bruce Leaver, First Assistant Secretary: bruce.leaver@environment.gov.au
Department of Environment and Climate Change NSW PO Box A290; Sydney South NSW 1232, Australia ph: 02-9995-5000; fax: 02-9995 5999; email: info@environment.nsw.gov.au
NSW National Parks And Wildlife Services / NPWS Kangaroo Management Unit PO
Box 2111; Dubbo NSW 2830 fax: 02-6884-8675; email: kangaroo.management@environment.nsw.gov.au
MORE AUSTRALIAN OFFICIALS:http://www.directory.gov.au INCLUDES: Government Departments and Agencies; Commonwealth Parliament; Governor General;
Courts and Judges
INDUSTRY Kangaroo Industry Association
of Australia PO Box 447; Woden ACT, AUSTRALIA 2606 ph: (03) 6326 8639; fax: (03) 6326 2790; email: kiaa@bigpond.net.au
REPRESENTATION ABROAD Australian
Embassy, United States of America Mr. Dennis J. Richardson AO, Ambassador to United States of America 1601
Massachusetts Avenue; Washington DC NW 20036-2273 ph: +1-202-797-3000; fax: +1-202-797-3331; public.affairsus@dfat.gov.au
AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL OFFICIALS -- BY TERRITORY NEW
SOUTH WALES The Hon. Ian Macdonald Level 33 Governor Macquarie Tower 1
Farrer Place; Sydney NSW 2000 ph: (02) 9228 3344; fax: (02) 9228 3452 email: macdonald.office@macdonald.minister.nsw.gov.au
TASMANIA TERRITORY The Honorable David Llewellyn, Minister for Primary
Industries and Water Department of Primary Industries and Water GPO Box 44 Hobart; Tasmania, Australia 7001 ph:
6233 6454; fax: 6233 2272; email: David.Llewellyn@dpiw.tas.gov.au Wildlife Management: wildlife.enq@dpiw.tas.gov.au
NORTHERN TERRITORY The Honorable Alison Anderson, Minister for Natural
Resources, Environment and Heritage; Minister for Parks and Wildlife GPO Box 3146; Darwin NT 0801 ph: +61
(08) 8901 4132; fax: +61 (08) 8901 4134 email: alison.anderson@nt.gov.au
AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY David Papps, Chief Executive; Penny Farnsworth,
Executive Director Department of the Environment, Climate Change, Energy and Water GPO Box 158; Canberra City ACT
2601 ph: 13 22 81; fax: (02) 6207 6084; email: environment@act.gov.au
QUEENSLAND Department of Environment and Resource Management Mr
John Bradley, Director-General GPO Box 24254; Brisbane, QLD, 4001 Scott Spencer, Associate Director-General: scott.spencer@nrw.qld.gov.au Terry Wall Associate Director-General: terry.wall@epa.qld.gov.au
WESTERN AUSTRALIA Department of Environment and Conservation The Atrium - Director General and Environmental Services Divisions 168 St Georges Terrace PERTH; Locked Bag 104; Bentley
Delivery Centre 6983 ph: (08) 6467 5000; fax: (08) 6467 5572
============================================================= SOURCE OF INFORMATION / REFERENCE LINKS =============================================================
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*DISCLAIMER: The information in these alerts is verified with the original source. Kinship Circle does not assume
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nor support, any form of harassment or unlawful activity. Nothing in this alert serves to promote such conduct.
Stop animal testing - it's not just cruel, it's ineffective From all-creatures.org Animal Rights
Articles Moo-ving people toward compassionate living
Stop animal testing - it's not just cruel, it's ineffective By Kelly Overton
June 23, 2006 The pharmaceutical industry and the National Institutes of Health spend billions of
dollars annually on medical research techniques that have been rendered obsolete by technological advances.
Adult stem cell research is key to our status as the world's leader in medical research. The continued
use of animals to test the effectiveness of medications and health interventions for humans is akin to using smoke signals
instead of e-mail as a method of communication.
Animal testing
has never really worked. Animal tests proved penicillin deadly, strychnine safe and aspirin dangerous.
In fact, 90 percent of medications approved for human use after animal testing later proved ineffective
or harmful to humans in clinical trials. It is humbling to realize that the flipping of a coin would have proved five times
more accurate and much cheaper. Animal-tested drugs have killed, disabled or harmed millions of people and lead to costly
delays as well. Among the most publicized are the delays of a polio vaccine by over three decades and a four-year delay in
the use of protease inhibitors for HIV treatment - after animal testing showed these interventions to be useless.
We have spent billions of dollars to cure cancer in mice, but so far have failed to replicate human
cancer in any animal, let alone close in on a cure. All but a very few diseases are species-unique, and the only efficient
and effective way to discover cures and create vaccines is through the use of the same species' cells, tissues and organs.
The use of animals as models for the development of human medications
and disease almost always fails, simply because humans and animals have different physiologies.
Adult stem cell research is more effective than animal testing because there are no complications
or failures related to tissue rejection. In fact, international researchers using adult stem cells - cells that are present
in all growing human tissue - have shown success in treating cardiac infarction, Crohn's disease and thalassemia. The answers
to the mysteries of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's will be found by using stem cells and other modern technologies, not by cutting
up beagles.
Most Americans tolerate vivisection because they
believe that it is a necessary evil. It is evil, but it's not necessary. Whether vivisection is morally right or wrong no
longer matters: It is as obsolete as eight-track tapes, telegrams and bloodletting. It is time the public stopped funding
this antiquated science, through tax dollars and research and development costs imbedded in prescription prices.
It may even be time to consider lawsuits aimed at pharmaceutical companies that continue to profit
by charging patients, insurance companies and the state and federal governments for medications and treatments based on such
flawed and antiquated research. These lawsuits could rival the tobacco lawsuits of the past decade, with individuals and states
seeking damages for the cost of caring for those killed or disabled by dangerous medicines.
Regardless of one's feelings about animals, it is time for consumers and taxpayers to realize that
vivisection wastes hundreds of millions of dollars annually and produces an inferior product.
The medical progress of the past century is the result of technology, public health improvements,
epidemiology, human clinical research, human autopsies, mathematical modeling and the mapping of the human genome, not experiments
on animals.
The NIH must take responsibility for ensuring the
United States maintains its status as the world's leader in health care innovation, a position that guarantees our country's
future economic strength and protects the world from the growing threat of biological terrorism. This responsibility begins
by ensuring that the research funded with Americans' tax dollars uses the most modern technology and methodology.
Whether you will live a full life or die early probably depends on today's medical research. Researchers
have proved ad infinitum that hitting a beagle on the head with a hammer causes trauma and forcing monkeys to smoke gives
them cancer.
It's time to insist that they stop harming defenseless
animals and wasting our precious health care dollars so they can get busy saving our lives by embracing technologies that
work.
Kelly
Overton is executive director of People Protecting Animals and Their Habitats in Cambridge, Mass. His e-mail is knophangan@aol.com.
Dogs For Dinner & Cats In The Medicine Cabinet Westerners find the consumption of humankind's best friend repugnant. Yet in South Korea some two million dogs are annually
killed for human meals. Humane Society International estimates 500,000 dogs are butchered in the Philippines each year.
In 2007, Koreans and Filipinos acknowledged global opposition to dog meat with rules to Westernize their dog-eating
ways. Well, sort of. Revisions to the Korean Animal Protection Act of 1991 clarified animal cruelty and inflated penalties.
But a leading anti-dog meat group, International Aid For Korean Animals (IAKA), worries the amended law "fails to directly
address the chief source of cruelty: Dog meat markets."
Korea's Food Sanitation Law of 1984 dubs dog soups
or broths (Boshintang) "disgusting foods." Dog-meat eateries stay licensed by simply renaming canine entrees. Under
Korea's Livestock Product Sanitation and Inspection Act, dogs aren't "livestock" and cannot be slain in accordance
with Ministry of Agriculture policy. But Korea's Food and Drug Administration labels dog meat a "natural product,"
thereby legitimizing it for human ingestion.
Dogfighting Fact Sheet
1. What is dogfighting?
Dogfighting
is a sadistic "contest" in which two dogs—specifically bred, conditioned, and trained to fight—are placed
in a pit (generally a small arena enclosed by plywood walls) to fight each other for the spectators' entertainment and
gambling. Fights average nearly an hour in length and often last more than two hours. Dogfights end when one of the dogs will
not or cannot continue. In addition to these dogfights, there are reports of an increase in unorganized street fights in urban
areas.
2. How does it cause animal suffering?
The injuries inflicted and sustained by dogs participating in dogfights are frequently severe, even
fatal. The American pit bull terriers used in the majority of these fights have been specifically bred and trained for fighting
and are unrelenting in their attempts to overcome their opponents. With their extremely powerful jaws, they are able to inflict
severe bruising, deep puncture wounds and broken bones.
Dogs
used in these events often die of blood loss, shock, dehydration, exhaustion, or infection hours or even days after the fight.
Other animals are often sacrificed as well. Some owners train their dogs for fights using smaller animals such as cats, rabbits
or small dogs. These "bait" animals are often stolen pets or animals obtained through "free to good home"
advertisements.
3. Are there other concerns?
Yes. Numerous law enforcement raids have unearthed many disturbing facets of this illegal "sport."
Young children are sometimes present at the events, which can promote insensitivity to animal suffering, enthusiasm for violence
and a lack of respect for the law. Illegal gambling is the norm at dogfights. Dog owners and spectators wager thousands of
dollars on their favorites. Firearms and other weapons have been found at dogfights because of the large amounts of cash present.
And dogfighting has been connected to other kinds of violence—even homicide, according to newspaper reports. In addition,
illegal drugs are often sold and used at dogfights.
4. What other
effects does the presence of dogfighting have on people and animals in a community?
Dogs used for fighting have been bred for many generations to be dangerously aggressive toward other animals.
The presence of these dogs in a community increases the risk of attacks not only on other animals but also on people. Children
are especially at risk, because their small size may cause a fighting dog to perceive a child as another animal.
5. Why should dogfighting be a felony offense?
There
are several compelling reasons. Because dogfighting yields such large profits for participants, the minor penalties associated
with misdemeanor convictions are not a sufficient deterrent. Dogfighters merely absorb these fines as part of the cost of
doing business. The cruelty inherent in dogfighting should be punished by more than a slap on the hand. Dogfighting is not
a spur-of-the-moment act; it is a premeditated and cruel practice.
Those
involved in dogfighting go to extensive lengths to avoid detection by law enforcement, so investigations can be difficult,
dangerous, and expensive. Law enforcement officials are more inclined to investigate dogfighting if it is a felony. As more
states make dogfighting a felony offense, those remaining states with low penalties will become magnets for dogfighters.
6. Do some states already have felony laws?
Yes.
Dogfighting is illegal in all 50 states and a felony offense in almost every state.
7. Should being a spectator also be a felony?
Yes.
Spectators provide much of the profit associated with dogfighting. The money generated by admission fees and gambling helps
keep this "sport" alive. Because dogfights are illegal and therefore not widely publicized, spectators do not merely
happen upon a fight; they seek it out. They are willing participants who support a criminal activity through their paid admission
and attendance.
8. What can I do to help stop dogfighting?
If you live in one of the states where dogfighting is still only a
misdemeanor, please write to your state legislators and urge them to make it a felony. To find out how your state treats dogfighting,
visit our page on State Dogfighting Laws.