͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌To prevent cruelty to animals, we promote enacting and enforcing good public policies. To enact good laws, we must elect good lawmakers, and that’s why we remind voters which candidates care about our issues and which ones don’t. If you’d like to unsubscribe, click here. [[link removed]]

​[link removed] [[link removed]]
Dear John,

It’s hard to believe that any legislative body — in any country in the world — would treat a proposal to make it easier to engage in dogfighting or cockfighting. But that’s exactly what’s happening in the Oklahoma Legislature.

One bill, HB 1792, would reduce the penalties for dogfighting to a maximum fine of $500! That’s an embarrassing and outrageous gutting of the penalties for the horror of staged dogfights.

A second bill, HB 2530, would allow Oklahoma counties to opt out of the state’s voter-approved anti-cockfighting law. They would create cockfighting refuges in the Sooner State if they get their way!

But the lawmakers backing these polls are way out of line with the values of voters, according to a new Sooner Survey. That poll shows that 87 percent of Oklahomans want cockfighting banned and they also want the penalties kept strong. The electorate there finds the entire idea of either dogfighting or cockfighting appalling.

Indeed, how could any lawmaker anywhere think it’s okay in the 21st century to allow staged fighting between animals?

We’ll do our best to make sure these bills don’t advance any further.

New Federal Legislation — the FIGHT Act — to be Introduced

And we are doing a lot more than fighting off bad actors. We are going on the offense.

We are poised to introduce a major rewrite of our federal law against animal fighting, enhancing capacity for federal law enforcement and even private citizens to take action against dogfighters and cockfighters.

Here’s what our new measure will do: *
establish
a
national
ban
on
gambling
on
animal
fighting
*
ban
shipping
adult
fighting
animals
through
the
U.S.
mail
*
allow
private
citizens
to
initiate
civil
actions
against
animal
fighters
when
law
enforcement
doesn’t
act
on
reliable
information.


Former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte issued a ban on online betting at cockfights months ago after dozens of people involved in cockfights were kidnapped and never heard from again! One woman, who had unpaid gambling debts, reportedly sold her child to pay off her bets! These sites are available to U.S. gamblers, and while it is impossible to track the scale, it’s clear such online gambling on cockfighting is surging in the United States.

Cockfighting and dogfighting are both barbaric in the extreme, but cockfighting has an additional feature that makes it even more virulent. Cockfighting and the trafficking of fighting animals threatens to spread avian influenza and other diseases.

The United States is already experiencing a dangerous and enormously costly outbreak of avian influenza. Cockfighting could extend the duration and geography of the outbreak, even making the virus more lethal and more transmissible to humans.

We’ll stop dogfighting and cockfighting only when we can nab the kingpins, shut down the pits, seize the live contraband, and penalize the whole cast of characters involved.

The introduction of the Fighting Inhumane Gambling and High-Risk Trafficking Act offers the prospect of doing just that.

I hope you’ll write to your federal lawmakers in support of the FIGHT Act. [[link removed]]
TAKE ACTION [[link removed]]


And I hope you’ll donate to our “Animal Fighting is the Pits” campaign today. It’s a fight we cannot afford to lose. [[link removed]]
DONATE NOW [[link removed]]


For the animals,
Wayne Pacelle [[link removed]] Wayne Pacelle
President
Animal Wellness Action
DONATE NOW [[link removed]]
WEBSITE [[link removed]]
[link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]]
Animal Wellness Action
611 Pennsylvania Ave SE #136
Washington, DC 20003
United States
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