A few days ago, animal advocates around the nation celebrated a victory almost six long and bloody years in the making as the U.S. Senate unanimously approved H.R. 137, the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act.

The bill, which was also approved by the U.S. House of Representatives, in a vote of 368 to 39 on March 26th, has now gone to President Bush for his signature.

The passage of this legislation would finally deal a devastating blow to the vast underground network of dog fighting and cockfighting operations still going about their extremely horrendous money making business just about every day in every single state in the nation despite many years of outrage and protest by many of us.

The Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act finally establishes a felony-level penalty of up to three years of jail time for any interstate or foreign transport of animals for fighting purposes (until now, unbelievably, only a misdemeanor), and makes it a crime to move cockfighting weapons in interstate or foreign commerce. 

The fighting dog's life is one of sheer misery and pain. Valued only for their ability to win bloody fights, dogs who do survive a match receive very little care for their injuries, and are barely provided with the basics they need to survive.  They never know human companionship or love.

And most of these dogs live out their short miserable lives on chains or in stacked filthy cages in extended isolation, only getting out of them for training or for yet another bloody match.

These horrendous fights may last for as long as two hours, with dogs often succumbing to shock and severe blood loss.  There is also very little chance of rescue for these fighting dogs, and when rescued, they are typically euthanized because of their severe neglect, medical injuries, wariness of man, and unsuitability for adoption.

Cockfighting is an extremely barbaric practice in which two or more specially bred birds, known as gamecocks, are placed in a pit fight for the entertainment of crowds of people who place huge bets on which bird will win.

These birds commonly sustain punctured lungs, broken bones, and pierced eyes, and sometimes both birds will die in this mortal combat. Lethal wounds are inflicted by razor-sharp knives or ice pick-like gaffs that are strapped to these birds' legs.

The attendance of young children at dog and cockfighting events is especially disturbing to many of us since we are all products of our childhood environments, and many behavioral studies link childhood animal abuse to increased adult violence and to increased callousness towards the plight of others, both human and animal.

Let’s all hope our President finally does the right thing for the dogs of America, for we dog lovers, and for our children and our grandchildren.

And my sincere thanks to all who kept up 'the good fight' on behalf of these dogs for these past six long and far too bloody years.