Animal cruelty bill killed in committee

BOISE – The House Agricultural Affairs Committee killed a bill Monday that would have brought tougher penalties for animal cruelty.

House Bill 167, sponsored by Rep. Tom Trail, R-Moscow, and veterinarian Becky Phillips, would have made dog and cock fighting felonies instead of misdemeanors. The bill also would have raised to felony status cases of animal abandonment, infliction of substantial pain on animals and other forms of mistreatment.

Trail said he was disappointed that the bill did not make it out of committee, but said he was pleased it helped place pressure on the state Department of Agriculture, which now plans to study animal cruelty laws over the summer.

“A lot of times good legislation takes more than one year to pass,” he said.

Supporters of the bill said the minimum $100 fine for cock fighting and dog fighting was too low to serve as a deterrent because participants can make thousands of dollars for a winning fight.

Phillips told the committee that 44 states have adopted laws making animal cruelty a felony.

She told of cases of animal torture she had seen during her career as a vet – including one case where a dog was tied to a car and dragged and another where a cat was bound and burned with a torch.

“Animal torture is a warning sign,” she said, adding that violence toward animals is highly associated with violence toward humans, including child and elder abuse and domestic abuse.

Cock fighting and dog fighting were targeted in the legislation because they are bloodsports in which animals are severely maimed and often die, Phillips said. Cock fighting pits two roosters against one another, and the animals often have razors or picks strapped to their legs, she said. Dogs used in fights are often trained to attack each other using stolen dogs as bait, she said.

The animal fights are used both as a form of entertainment and for illegal gambling, Phillips said.

The bill would not have affected normal animal management practices, such as castration, branding or rodeos, nor would it have criminalized procedures normally used when producing animals for food, Trail said.

“Felony legislation is needed in Idaho because animal fighting is already here,” Inga Gibson of the Humane Society of the United States told the committee.

But JC Williams, a Kuna resident who breeds game fowl, said cruelty standards must be determined by the type of animal, and that the proposed legislation would make criminals out of legitimate businessmen.

“Game fowl are not like other animals. A game rooster will fight to the point of knocking his beak off, knocking his thumbs off his feet. We control the circumstance that these birds are fought in,” Williams said. “I sell my birds as brood stock. But I can’t control what the fellow in Florida does with my birds.”

George Duenaz said cock fighting was a sport and a respectable part of Hispanic culture. He got into the game fowl business at the request of his 13-year-old son, who was interested in cock fighting.

“I would much rather see my boy, knowing where he’s at on the weekend, knowing that he’s fine instead of out there running on the streets,” Duenaz said. “I love to see my son picking up a culture that’s been in my family for generations.”

The committee voted 5-3 to keep the bill from the House floor, with Reps. Trail, Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, and Donna Pence, D-Gooding, supporting the bill.