Animal Fighting Spectator Prohibition Act:
Urge Your Member of Congress to Support H.R. 366

Originally Posted: February 1, 2013

Animal Fighting Spectator Prohibition Act:
Urge Your Member of Congress to Support H.R. 366

FROM United Poultry Concerns (UPC)

ACTION

The Animal Fighting Spectator Prohibition Act (U.S. House of Representatives/H.R. 366) will make it a crime to attend an organized animal fight and increase the penalties for bringing a minor (a person under 18) to a cockfight, dogfight, or any other staged animal fight.

On December 4, 2012, the U.S. Senate passed S. 1947 but the House companion bill failed. It has been reintroduced in 2013 as H.R. 366.

Please contact your U.S. House Representative and urge him or her to cosponsor and support H.R. 366, the Animal Fighting Spectator Prohibition Act of 2013.

Find and contact your U.S. Senators
http://www.senate.gov/

Find and contact your U.S. Representative
http://www.house.gov/

Little Rooster, who died in November, 2011 after being rescued from a
cockfighting ring and brought to UPC in 2009. How lucky we were to know him.

INFORMATION / TALKING POINTS

Here is UPC’s letter to U.S. House Rep. E. Scott Rigell by email and regular mail. Use content and write your own letter:

January 31, 2013

The Honorable E. Scott Rigell
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
http://rigell.house.gov/contact/

Dear Representative Rigell:

I am writing to you as a member of your congressional district on the Eastern Shore to urge you to support H.R. 366, the Animal Fighting Spectator Prohibition Act of 2013.

H.R. 2492, which as Senate companion bill S. 1947 passed the Senate December 4, 2012, failed in the House in 2012. It is time to pass this legislation. Please support H.R. 366 and join me as a cosponsor.

H.R. 366 makes it a crime to attend an organized animal fight or to bring a person under 18 years old to a cockfight or dogfight.

As you may recall, in 2008, the Commonwealth of Virginia amended the Code of Virginia Section 3.1-796.124 to strengthen the state’s animal fighting law and penalties for engaging in organized animal fights, including cockfights, for amusement, sport, or financial gain.

United States citizens and Virginia residents overwhelmingly oppose staged animal fights and support legislation prohibiting and penalizing participation in these activities in which animal cruelty, drug trafficking, illegal gambling, public corruption and murder are involved.

In 2007, the U.S. Congress passed legislation providing felony-level penalties for interstate and foreign animal fighting activities and outlawing commerce in cockfighting weapons.

H.R. 366, the Animal Fighting Spectator Prohibition Act, will strengthen the federal legislation and reinforce animal fighting laws in Virginia.

Please cosponsor and support H.R. 366. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,

Karen Davis, PhD, President
United Poultry Concerns
PO Box 150
Machipongo, VA 23405
phone (757) 678-7875

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Thank you for everything you do for animals!

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