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[[link removed]] John,

There is so much to do to save animals from cruelty and neglect. The funds we raise through our year-end matching gift campaign will make a powerful difference in our fight to tackle the cruelest forms of animal
abuse right now and in 2021
[[link removed]] — cruelty like dogfighting. So I hope we can count on your support now.

It’s hard to imagine a crueler life and death for a dog than to be abused daily
and then torn apart by another dog as spectators taunt and cheer. In a dogfight,
two dogs are put in a ring and forced to fight for “entertainment” and profit. A
fight can last hours, until one dog is too injured or exhausted to continue or
dies. Dogfighters often kill dogs who are either unable or unwilling to put on a
“good” fight for the crowd by shooting, hanging, drowning, or electrocuting
them.

Outside the ring, canine victims are made to suffer for “training” purposes.
They’re forced to wear heavy chains and run on treadmills; left outside in
extreme weather without shelter; and starved so they can “make weight” in a
contract fight, while females may be confined in “rape boxes” for breeding.

Tens of thousands of dogs are victims of this cruelty each year. But you can help stop the abuse and bring dogfighters to justice by helping us reach our
goal of raising $300,000 with a tax-deductible contribution to be matched, up to
$130,000, today.
[[link removed]]

The Animal Legal Defense Fund is combating dogfighting by working to ensure that
no one involved in exploiting and profiting from this abuse is beyond the reach
of justice. Dogfighting is a felony in every state. Yet the laws often fail to address the
highly organized criminal networks responsible for dogfighting.

Until everyone involved in dogfighting is held accountable, there can be little
chance of stamping out this cruelty. That’s why we’ve drafted a recommended
amendment to state laws that would enable prosecutors to charge animal fighters
under state Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO) statutes. MATCH MY GIFT
[[link removed]]
RICO statutes were designed to prosecute organized crime. That’s what animal
fighting is: an organized criminal enterprise run by people who abuse dogs from
birth to death — all in the name of profit and bloody entertainment.

We’ve succeeded in getting our RICO amendment on the books in Virginia, which
now gives prosecutors in that state greater power to pursue justice for the
animals abused and killed by everyone involved in the dogfighting industry —
those who profit off the dogs’ pain through breeding, training, sale of fighting
equipment, and gambling on the fights, as well as those who put dogs in the
ring.

We need to see these laws passed in more states in the year ahead, and we need
you with us. Please double your impact in the fight against dogfighting and all forms of
animal cruelty today.
[[link removed]] Thank you for being the kind of person who animals can count on. For the animals,

David B. Rosengard
Senior Staff Attorney



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