Unfortunately, the Animal Fighting Prohibition Act did not move from
committee to the floor for a vote before the 109th Congress recessed for the
November election.

When they reconvene Nov. 13th, there will only be a brief window
before newly elected officials transition to the 110th Congress. This bill
will have to be REINTRODUCED if the current Congress doesn't act swiftly.

If you care about animal cruelty, please contact your elected officials to urge passage of this much needed act.

BEFORE THE 11/06 ELECTION:

Write/fax/email or meet with your U.S. Representative at his/her local office.

AFTER THE 11/06 ELECTION:

Send fax/email to your Rep’s office in Washington D.C.

   

Identify your federal Representative and find his/her contact info:
Congress.org - http://www.Congress.org
Project Vote Smart - http://www.vote-smart.org  
USA House of Representatives - http://www.house.gov
House Judiciary Committee Members - http://judiciary.house.gov/fullcommittee.aspx
Congressional Switchboard: (202)-224-3121

 SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Representative ____________________________:

Please support the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act (H.R. 817) and do everything possible to move it from committee to the floor for a vote.

Present law specifies misdemeanor punishments that won't dissuade animal fighters. H.R. 817, introduced by Rep. Mark Green (R-WI), establishes felony penalties for: "(1) selling, buying, transporting, delivering, or receiving dogs and other animals in interstate or foreign commerce for fights."

 It stipulates felony penalties for the sponsorship and exhibition of fight animals and the interstate and foreign commerce of knives, gaffs, and other sharp implements used in cockfights.

Although 50 states outlaw dogfighting, fighters still routinely meet in empty homes, garages, warehouses, or remote parks and barns to “play” their dogs in makeshift arenas hemmed in plywood walls.

For these dogs, life is a brief mix of grueling endurance drills and gory scrimmages. In between fights, they are tethered on thick logging chains at backyard compounds cluttered in feces, ant-infested kibble, and rusty wail pails.

If dogs don't succumb to internal trauma, blood loss, shock, dehydration, collapse or infection, they live with wounds and abscesses on their heads, throats, shoulders, and legs. Their ears are bloody stubs and some of their faces are so lacerated that these dogs can hardly breathe.

Once a dog's "game" is gone, dogfighters discard them in a trash heap or barren building to die of starvation or jeopardize public safety.

Like dogfighters, cockfighters dose their "prizefighters" with stimulants and steroids acquired on the black market. They arm roosters with razor-sharp gaffs to extend their feet up to 3 inches. In the ring, birds shred each other's lungs, livers, wings, and legs. They gouge out eyes and detach spinal
cords.

In addition to animal abuse, the cockfighting industry threatens legitimate agriculture with its role in Exotic Newcastle Disease (END), a highly transmutable avian disease spread via interstate transport of fighting birds. Movement in game fowl is tied to the deadly Avian Influenza (AI).

Veterinary experts view smuggled gamecock as the "hot button" to ignite a bird flu epidemic here in the U.S. To combat END and AI, officials have exhausted hundreds of millions of dollars on containment and compensation.

Animal fighting networks are linked with gambling, auto theft, drug trafficking, arms smuggling, money laundering, and acts of human violence.