Fighting for Fido
February 8, 2008
Is dogfighting going on right under your nose? That’s what it seemed like Thursday after listening to a House Judiciary Committee hearing on a bill that would make being a spectator at a dogfight or cockfight a felony, increasing the maximum penalty from 90 days to three years and max fine from $1,000 to $5,000.
According to supporters of the bill, dogfighting rings are alive and well “all over the state,” and the punishment doesn’t fit the crime.
“When they go and do some of these undercover stings…a lot of these are several month operations,” said the bill’s sponsor Del. James E. Malone Jr., D-Howard and Baltimore County. “Sometimes police are a little leery of doing a 6-month investigation when they know they can only get a misdemeanor.”
And if you listened to the testimony, it seems like the fighting rings in Maryland have gone from being run out of one guy’s house to Michael Vick-esque, “Bad Newz Kennels” levels.
But Del. Luiz R. S. Simmons, D-Montgomery, seemed to cut through the celebrity references when he asked Baltimore City Health Commissioner Joshua M. Sharfstein: “Sometimes it seems as if we’re being asked to enhance a penalty — really — as a substitute to enforcing the law…is the problem the current penalty or absence of prosecutions?”
Sharfstein said it was a tough question to answer as they are still acting on findings from a task force on dogfighting assigned this summer. Baltimore City is currently prosecuting two cases, he said.
What do you think? Is this legislation simply inspired by a national news event, or is it really a needed change in Maryland?
LIZ FARMER, Legal Affairs Writer
Above: One of the dogs that was removed from property owned by Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick is shown in a file photo.
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If you don’t believe this is going on, do some research. Start out with a call to the local pet shelter/animal control and ask them about what they know about the fighting (or at least evidence of it in the injuries they see on live or dead animals).