Unleashed: Maryland Senate approves weakened dogfighting bill - A blog for animal lovers on pets, dogs, cats, shelters and animal rescue

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February 21, 2008

Maryland Senate approves weakened dogfighting bill

A bill to increase penalties for people who attend illegal dogfights has been unanimously approved by the Maryland Senate, the Associated Press reported yesterday -- but it's a watered down version of what was originally proposed.

The original bill would have made it a felony to knowingly attend an illegal dogfight or cockfight, but the Senate decided to keep the crime a misdemeanor. The original bill would have increased the maximum penalty from 90 days in jail to three years in prison. Instead, the amended version increases it to one year in prison and a $2,500 fine.

A separate animal fighting bill has been rejected by a House committee, leading to some doubts about whether Maryland lawmakers will agree on a bill this year.

Posted by John Woestendiek at 2:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Comments

What does it take to make lawmakers realize this is a serious issue?? People rarely get the maximum sentence as it is, if any real punishment at all.

Posted by: Linda | February 21, 2008 8:48 PM

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About Jill Rosen

Jill Rosen is a reporter at The Baltimore Sun. During her nearly 20 years in journalism, she has covered news and features — including a surprising number of stories that involved animals. There were the dog Christmas carolers in State College, Pa. There were the hounds who toured with a production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The story of a preschool teacher at Baltimore’s Father Kolbe School who had to replace her class guinea pig, who died over the winter holiday. A harrowing tale of what it was like to make homemade pet food ...

Though her clean freak of a mother refused to allow her to get a dog, she has had a number of pets through the years, including goldfish named Bob and Fingle, a betta fish named Ichabod, a wild rat terrier named Wendel, who she shared with a roommate, and, currently, sweet, sweet kitties named Leo Sesame and Milo Pumpkin and a little rescued pup named Teddy Bean. She, Leo, Pumpkin and Teddy Bean live in Baltimore.

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