Dear John,
Dogfighting and cockfighting are among the most sickening and stomach-churning forms of animal cruelty in the world.
And sadly, both of these forms of staged animal combat are conducted across the globe.
Animal fights not only occur every day in the United States, but we have also become the breeding ground for fighting animals who are shipped across the world to be torn apart in fighting pits.
Animal Wellness Action has conducted extensive national investigation to document those problems.
We are attacking the problem on multiple fronts, including with new national legislation to pull up animal fighting operations at the root.
We’ve initiated bipartisan legislation in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House to halt the trade in dogs and roosters conscripted to fight, to criminalize the on-line gambling that fuels the spectacles, and to enable more aggressive enforcement, including from private citizens who can bring actions against the animal fighters.
The bills are called the Fighting Inhumane Gambling and High-Risk Trafficking (FIGHT) Act, and we are committed to getting this legislation signed into law this year. But we’ll need your help.
This national legislative initiative comes right on the heels of our work to defeat three bills in Oklahoma that would have rolled back the state’s landmark anti-cockfighting law. We are heartened by recent arrests of illegal animal fighters from Marlboro County in South Carolina to Kern County in California, but it’s still not close to enough to turn around cruelty occurring on a vast scale.
Our goal is simple: end all cockfighting and end dogfighting in every dark corner where it festers.
New Federal Legislation — the FIGHT Act — Introduced
I am glad that our existing federal law against animal fighting is strong and comprehensive. But it can be even stronger, and the FIGHT Act will make it so by enhancing the capacity of federal law enforcement personnel 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.
- Enable the government to seize real property if it’s used in the commission of an animal fighting venture.
- Allow private citizens to initiate civil actions against animal fighters when law enforcement doesn’t act on reliable information.
Let’s face it. The cockfighters and dogfighters commit atrocities against animals for amusement and for money. We have to hit them where it hurts.
Cockfighting and dogfighting are both barbaric in the extreme, but cockfighting has an additional feature that wreaks even more havoc. Cockfighting and the trafficking of fighting roosters threaten 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—S. 1529 in the Senate and H.R. 2742 in the House—offers the prospect of doing just that.
Please write to your lawmakers today! You can contact them automatically to show your support by
following this link.
And I hope you’ll donate to our “Animal Fighting is the Pits” campaign today. It’s a fight we cannot afford to lose.
For the animals,
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Wayne Pacelle
President
Animal Wellness Action
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