|
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 — 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.
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.
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. Thank you for being the kind of person who animals can count on.
|
For the animals,
|
|
David B. Rosengard
Senior Staff Attorney
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This email was sent to [email protected].
© 2020 Animal Legal Defense Fund
525 East Cotati Avenue, Cotati, CA 94931 | (707) 795-2533 |
|
|
