WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Tom Marino, D-10, along with U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton, a Democrat from Ohio, have introduced legislation that makes it a federal offense to attend an organized animal fight and imposes additional penalties for taking minors to such events.
HR 2492, the Animal Fighting Spectator Prohibition Act of 2011, complements state laws that address spectators at animal fights.
Organized animal fighting is a federal crime and illegal in all 50 states, but the issue of spectators at these events is not addressed on the federal level. It is illegal in 49 states to be a knowing spectator at animal fights; 28 states impose felony-level penalties on spectators.
"As a former state and federal prosecutor, I've seen firsthand the criminal culture that surrounds animal fighting events and the damaging influence this environment has on our children," Marino said in a statement. "We try to protect our kids from criminal violence and yet there are no consequences for those adults who take impressionable children to animal fights where they can witness these heinous acts in person."
The bill would impose federal misdemeanor penalties for attendance and felony penalties for causing a minor to attend.
When active animal fighting operations are raided, it is a common practice for the organizers, promoters, and animal owners to blend into the crowd in order to shield themselves from law enforcement. As a result, many states have enacted legislation to make attendance at an animal fight a criminal offense, a critical step to discourage individuals from facilitating animal fìghts by their attendance, and to ensure that the organizers of animal fìghts cannot easily escape into a crowd when law-enforcement officials arrive, Marino said.