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ANIMAL FIGHTING GETS ATTENTION
Tougher laws on animal fighting soughtDate published: 1/16/2008 RICHMOND--In the wake of the highly publicized trial of Michael Vick for dogfighting, lawmakers this year are looking to strengthen the state's laws against animal fighting of any kind. Bills sponsored by House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith in the House and Sen. Tommy Norment in the Senate--and backed by Attorney General Bob McDonnell, Gov. Tim Kaine and the Humane Society--would make cockfighting a felony, the same as dogfighting, and make it a misdemeanor to attend cockfights or dogfights. "Obviously the case involving Michael Vick helped shine a spotlight not only on the scope of the problem but on deficiencies in Virginia's law," McDonnell said at a press conference yesterday. "Until this case this year, people found it hard to understand the depravity" of dogfighting. Vick and three co-defendants were convicted this year on charges stemming from a dogfighting ring run out of Vick's Surry County property. McDonnell said animal fighting has connections to other criminal activities and illegal gambling, and said the animal cruelty inherent in animal fighting contributes to a "coarsening of society, a tolerance of violence." Griffith agreed. "We know if you are cruel to animals, particularly as a child, you're likely to be involved in criminal activities as an adult." Right now cockfighting is only a misdemeanor, and that's only if gambling is involved, otherwise it's not illegal at all. Currently attending an animal fight is not illegal--gambling on it is-- but McDonnell and the lawmakers said they hope to stamp out demand by prosecuting the spectators. Bills to ban cockfighting have failed in recent years, last year because lawmakers at the last moment couldn't agree on whether to make it a misdemeanor or a felony. "I believe we can do it this year," Griffith said. "We're talking about using drugs to beef these roosters up. They put razor blades on their talons so they can cut each other. It's just not right." The legislators said states around Virginia, like North Carolina, have already cracked down on animal fighting, leading to higher rates of dogfighting and cockfighting in Virginia. They hope the proposed legislation, by strengthening Virginia's penalties for animal fighting, will run the fighting rings back out of the state. The bills would also make it a misdemeanor to allow a juvenile to attend an animal fight, and removes a requirement that animals confiscated from animal-fighting rings be held in shelters until the charges are resolved. That was Spotsylvania Animal Control officer William Tydings' chief interest in the legislation, which he said he helped write as a member of the Virginia Animal Control Association. Tydings said in a Spotsylvania dogfighting case that wrapped up in December, the dogs in the case had to be kept in a shelter for two years --which was trying on the staff and the dogs both. Chelyen Davis: 804/782-9362Email: cdavis@freelancestar.com
Date published: 1/16/2008
It doesn't matter what you call it
(posted by
travelin_bone
, Jan. 16, 2008 1:12 pm)
if judges aren't willing to hand down serious sentences it doesnt matter if it's a felony or misdemeanor.
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