House passes Gallegly bill against animal fights

The House of Representatives, on a 368-39 vote, recently passed a bipartisan bill that makes violations of federal animal fighting law a felony punishable by up to three years in prison, makes it a felony to transport an animal across state or international borders for the purposes of animal fighting and prohibits the interstate and foreign commerce in knives and gaffs designed for use in cockfighting.

A companion bill to the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act of 2007 has passed the Senate Judiciary Committee as well. The Senate is expected to pass the bill in the next few weeks.

U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly (RThousand Oaks) proposed the bill.

"Local police and sheriffs are increasingly concerned about animal fighting, not only because of the animal cruelty involved but also because of the other crimes that often go handinhand, including illegal gambling, drug trafficking and acts of human violence," Gallegly said. "In the last six months, virtually every reported arrest at an animal fight also led to additional arrests for at least one of these criminal activities."

Recent months have seen a rise in the frequency of animal fighting arrests in cities nationwide.

It is also dangerous for children to be close to these animals. Children are often brought to the fights. Some dog fighters steal pets to use as bait for training their dogs. Some allow trained fighting dogs to roam neighborhoods and endanger the public.

In addition, cockfighting has been identified as a major contributor to the spread of avian flu throughout Thailand and other parts of Asia. Many of the humans who died from avian flu contracted it from fighting birds.

Roosters smuggled into the United States for the express purpose of cockfighting are likely to carry the disease, like cockfighting roosters which brought Newcastle disease to California in 2002 and 2003, devastating the U.S. poultry industry.