New Attitude Toward Cruelty Laws Has Animal Fighters on the Run

By Ariana Huemer

When a South Carolina court handed a record, 30-year sentence to convicted dogfighter David Tant in November, participants in illegal animal fighting rings everywhere were put on notice: Their days of operating under the legal radar are numbered.

Tant's sentence (which included a ten-year assault-and-battery charge) is the stiffest sentence ever pronounced for illegal animal fighting. It must have come as quite a shock to Tant who, like so many other dogfighting organizers across the country, has spent years profiting off the blood of animals with relatively little interference from law enforcement authorities.

But if recent events are any indication, law enforcement is taking a harder line against animal fighting. Mainstream news media headlines have been awash in story after story of illegal animal fighters meeting their days of reckoning.

• In August 2004, South Carolina Agriculture Commissioner Charles Sharp was suspended without pay after being indicted on federal extortion and money laundering charges. Sharp allegedly accepted bribe money from cockfighters in exchange for helping them out of legal trouble and for pushing pro-cockfighting legislation. On Thursday, January 20, according to The Charlotte Observer, Sharp pleaded guilty to "one count of violating the Hobbes Act, which prohibits public officials from using their office to extort bribes, and one count of making false statements to federal law enforcement officials." All other charges were dropped. He resigned his office the same week.

• In March 2004, Sporting Dog Journal owner James Fricchione was convicted of animal cruelty and dogfighting charges after authorities seized dozens of injured fighting dogs and dogfighting paraphernalia from his property in New York. The raid put the publication on the path to financial ruin and severely damaged profits from illegal dogfighting nationwide. He now faces similar charges in Pennsylvania, including charges of using his magazine to promote dogfighting.

• Just before Christmas 2004, federal and state authorities conducted simultaneous raids of hog-dog fighting operations in four states. The raids took out the leadership of the top hog-dog fight organization in the nation, helping to cripple the U.S. industry, which for years has been claiming amnesty from prosecution under various state hunting laws.

• On January 13, a U.S. District Court jury in Pennsylvania returned a guilty verdict against animal fighting promoter Robert Stevens for the felony crime of selling videos of dogfighting matches and hog-dog fighting events on the Internet. He was the first person to be found guilty at trial under this 1999 federal law, originally enacted to prevent the selling of "crush" videos and other depictions of animal cruelty. Much of the credit in the case is owed to Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Kaufman, who doggedly pursued the case to its ultimate prosecution.

• And most recently, on January 21, the Portland Trailblazers released player Qyntel Woods after he pleaded guilty to animal cruelty in a Multnomah County courthouse. The Blazers' action against their basketball star is unprecedented in an animal fighting case and is indicative of the growing societal intolerance for cruelty.

More Fighting, More Enforcement

This wave of successful prosecutions, both at the state and federal level, comes after years of lobbying by animal protection advocates for stronger laws. Although dogfighting was illegal in all states by 1976, only three states made the crime a felony. By 2005, that had changed; dogfighting is now a felony in 48 states, as well as in the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. In addition, the federal Animal Welfare Act prohibits the interstate transportation of dogs and roosters for fighting purposes.

“While dog fighting continues to victimize dogs in all corners of our country, we re beginning to see a change of attitude in law enforcement and the courts that gives me great hope," says Ann Chynoweth, director of The HSUS's Animal Cruelty and Fighting Campaign. "People are no longer willing to turn a blind eye to this kind of horrible, violent cruelty that is always involved in dog fighting."

Yet, despite the spate of recently enacted laws, dogfighting has actually been on the rise. Animal shelters have found themselves jam-packed with pit bulls, many of them cast-offs of the dogfighting industry. Other shelters find themselves with the unwelcome task of euthanizing hundreds of fighting cocks, stumbled upon by investigators during drug busts, too aggressive to adopt out.

It's a rise that can be attributed, in part, to popular culture's fascination with illicit, underground dogfighting: Snarling pit bulls flash across the screen in a Nike commercial and in music videos by popular rap artists like Jay-Z and DMX. One rap record label (Ruff Ryders entertainment, home of DMX and other rappers) has even created its own "Game Dog Professional" brand of dog food, a not-so-subtle nod to the illegal world of underground dogfighting.

The disturbing rise in animal-fighting crimes (witness the rise in the sheer numbers of media clippings on the subject) despite stricter laws makes one thing clear: Getting laws passed is one thing; getting those laws enforced is another. A partial explanation lies possibly within the historical reluctance of prosecutors and law enforcement agencies to investigate and pursue animal-related crimes. Enforcement often is neglected by officers who feel their limited time and resources would be better spent fighting crimes against humans.

But times are changing and, along with it, the antiquated view of animal issues as being socially insignificant. Law enforcement agencies and prosecutors are becoming increasingly aware that animal cruelty is a community issue, not just an animal issue. By cracking down on animal abuse and removing abusers from the community, overall public safety is enhanced.

"More and more law enforcement agencies are partnering with animal care and control agencies in the fight against animal abuse by sharing resources and information," social worker Virginia-Marie Beckett said of The HSUS First Strike® campaign.

Dogfighters may be down for the count, but they are by no means knocked out cold—yet. While it's obvious that the recent crackdown has put major segments of the animal fighting industry on the run, some of the more stubborn factions of the industry are digging in their heels. It's up to us to keep up the fight against the animal fighters.

"The wave of recent arrests and prosecutions against dog fighting symbolize a shift in attitudes about what is socially tolerable," said Chynoweth. "It's an ongoing fight for animal advocates and law enforcement, but underground animal fighting rings, barbaric holdovers from the past, are on their way out."

Ariana Huemer is a cruelty caseworker in The HSUS's Animal Cruelty Campaign.

Related Links

Cockfighting Fact Sheet

Dogfighting Fact Sheet

Hog-Dog Fighting

New Federal Law Will Help Crack Down on Illegal Cockfighting