Gregoire OKs bill strengthening penalties for animal fighting

OLYMPIA – Gov. Christine Gregoire has approved a crackdown on cockfighting and other forms of animal cruelty.

The governor signed legislation on Monday that boosts the penalty for brutal dogfighting and cockfighting for public entertainment and profit.

Under the new law, intentionally inflicting substantial pain, injuring or killing an animal will be a Class C felony, up from a misdemeanor. A new Class C felony of animal fighting also is created, covering people who own, breed, train, buy or sell animals for the purpose of staging fights. A Class C felony carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

The legislation also covers stealing pets to be sacrificed as bait animals for training fighting dogs.

Rep. Tom Campbell, R-Roy, who co-sponsored the bill with Rep. Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, said lawmakers heard accounts of “horrors of the extreme levels of violence that result from animal fighting.”

One case involved a Rottweiler, apparently someone’s pet, being thrown into a ring with a trained pit bull. “While the crowd cheered, a vicious fight between the two dogs ensued as the pit bull savagely destroyed the hapless Rottweiler,” he said in a statement Monday.

Animal fighting may be attracting organized crime to the region, he added. Current law, which involved only a fine, wasn’t the deterrent that the threat of a felony prison term will be, he said.