Bill to make animal battles a felony fails: Humane Society wants more done to discour

[Monica Norton]

Bill to make animal battles a felony fails: Humane Society wants more done to discourage fights

By Dan Boyd - Journal Writer

aAds = new Array();aAds[0] = new Array();aAds[0][0] = 'news+local+middle.2';aAds[0][1] = '12451';aAds[0][2] = 'jpg';aAds[0][3] = 'http://www.pebblecreekskiarea.com';aAds[0][4] = '1';displayAd('http://adsys.townnews.com', 'journalnet.com', aAds); BOISE - Idaho will remain one of two states without felony dogfighting laws after a House committee voted down a Pocatello lawmaker's proposal on Friday.

Rep. Donna Boe brought both the dogfighting and a similar cockfighting bill to the House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee, knowing full well they would face staunch opposition.



"I hope everybody learned a lot," she said. "The big obstacle, which I knew ahead of time, was making it a felony."

Currently, Wyoming is the only other state in the union that does not make engaging in dogfighting a felony.

And 31 of 50 states already have similar penalties in regard to cockfighting.

"A $100 misdemeanor penalty is nothing compared to the $10,000 that can be won in a cockfighting derby," said Inga Gibson of the Humane Society, the group that convinced Boe to sponsor the legislation.

"All animals naturally fight, but the majority of animals do not fight to the death. You do not find that in nature."

A handful of ranchers who breed game fowl stood in opposition to the bills, however, saying their livelihood and rights would be in jeopardy if the laws were to be changed.

One man even admitted he engages in cockfighting, calling it the "oldest spectator sport known to man" and slamming the Humane Society as a bunch of "fanatical people."

In January, 17 people were arrested when the Bingham County Sheriff's Department busted a large group watching and betting on cockfighting.

Many of the those cited were from neighboring states where the activity is a felony and Boe said until Idaho adopts stricter laws, people will continue gravitating toward the Gem State to engage in such pursuits.

Mike Kane, an attorney representing the Idaho Sheriff's Association, agreed.

"This is a gambling enterprise and what goes with it is what you might expect," he said in naming drug trafficking, drinking and violent altercations as common corollaries to dogfighting and cockfighting exhibitions. "It's also extremely bloody and extremely cruel."

However, some who testified pointed out that cockfighting is legal in Mexico, where many of Idaho's Hispanic immigrants come from, and said the legislation could be used to racially discriminate. Not so, Boe said.

"It's certainly not targeted at Hispanics, it's targeted at the actions," she said. "Cockfighting isn't a crime (in Mexico), but neither is bullfighting in some countries."

Under current Idaho law, engaging animals in cockfighting or dogfighting is a misdemeanor offense, which is typically punishable by a small fine.

Boe's proposal would have made the activities a low-grade felony, with a maximum prison sentence of two years and fines up to $15,000.

In addition to concerns over an already crowded correctional system, what appeared to sway the vote of many legislators was confusion on how the change would impact "barnyard fights," or random violence between animals.

Boe had tweaked the bills after an original hearing two weeks ago, hoping to allay such concerns.

The final vote on the cockfighting bill was 11-3 and the dogfighting legislation similarly fell short by a 9-5 margin, though supporters of both bills promised to bring the ideas back next year.

[spike]

I wish all states had such sensible legislators that can't be bought off by the Humaniacs.

[GrCh_Jeff]

amen to that..lol