͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌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]]

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Dear John,

Dogfighting and cockfighting are among the most sickening and stomach-churning forms of animal cruelty in the world.

These staged battles occur in our homeland and throughout the world.

In the United States, blood-stained fighting pits dot the landscape. But dogs and roosters are also raised here and shipped around the world for fights in dozens of other nations. Our investigations have documented this global trade, occurring on a scale that is almost unimaginable.

The dogs cannot escape the pits. And the roosters have sharp knives strapped to their legs to cut so the weapons can pierce flesh and gouge eyes.

We are attacking the problem on multiple fronts, including new national legislation to pull up animal fighting operations at the root.

The Fighting Inhumane Gambling and High-Risk Trafficking Act, known as the FIGHT Act, would halt the trade in dogs and roosters conscripted to fight, criminalize the on-line gambling that fuels the spectacles, and enable more aggressive enforcement, including from private citizens who can bring actions against the animal fighters.

Creating a private right of action to allow citizens to sue illegal dogfighters and cockfighting will be a game changer. With that provision, we can mop up these awful, despicable practices throughout our nation and cut off the flow of animals to other nations.

We are heartened by recent arrests of illegal animal fighters from Marlboro County in South Carolina to Marshall County in Oklahoma 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

We have a good, strong law against dogfighting and cockfighting—but it must be made stronger to shut down a practice with tens of thousands of followers and millions of animals torn up in fighting pits in the United States and beyond. That’s why we’ve made passing the FIGHT Act a top priority.

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.

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. [[link removed]]

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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
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