Full text of O'Malley's message on dog-fighting
Dear Friends,Thank you for contacting me with your thoughts concerning dogfighting in the State of Maryland. In our home, we have three dogs -- Lady, Rex and Winnie -- that we consider part of our family and I appreciate hearing from you about this important topic.
Dogfighting is a violent problem in our state and across the nation. Often rooted in organized crime, dogfighting is a vicious blood sport that not only victimizes the dogs in question but is too often accompanied by other violent crimes that are linked with this criminal behavior.
Maryland has a comprehensive law designed to combat dogfighting, enabling the State’s law enforcement officials to pursue investigations and prosecutions in multiple ways depending on the facts and circumstances involved. Not only does Maryland not allow a dog to be used in a dogfight, the law in this State goes further, and prohibits any person from even allowing a dog to be used in a dogfight, through a third party for example, and also forbids any individual from arranging or conducting such a fight.
Maryland also prohibits any person from possessing, owning, selling, transporting, or training a dog with the intent to use the dog in a dogfight, and further prohibits any person from knowingly allowing premises under his or her control to be used to conduct a dogfight. Any of these violations are classified as a felony in this State, and carry a potential penalty of up to three years in jail, and a $5,000 fine.
Additionally, I am deeply disturbed and saddened by the recent burning of a pit bull in Baltimore City. The Baltimore City Police Department is working hard to investigate this violent and cruel act and bring the individuals responsible to justice. While it is unclear at the moment whether this case is related to dogfighting and whether these individuals can be prosecuted under Maryland's dogfighting law, I have asked the Attorney General’s Office to look into the sufficiency of Maryland's animal cruelty laws to determine if these laws need to be updated to prevent this kind of heinous crime from happening again in Maryland.
Martin O'Malley
Governor
Photo of the First Family with Lady, a Golden Retriever courtesy of the Governor's Office.
Comments
I have to say that I am part of Ocean Conservancy and we often send petitions and concerns to local and national legislators in hopes of further action and I am now quite use to getting these types of replies. They are all too often very agreeable but fail to state what actions will be taken to further the cause. I can always tell the difference between these and the replies where the lawmaker is truly "on board" with the issue because in that case they are quite clear about exactly what actions will be taken and a lot of times even state who is for and against the plight. I think this needs to be pursued in a way that forces legislators to agree to even stricter laws with a guarantee of them being enforced. Laws can be written left and right, but if no one is actually enforcing them, what good does it do? I challenge Governor O'Malley to take another step forward and outline the ways in which he is going to try his best to strengthen and enforce these animal cruelty laws. Specifically.
Posted by: Nicholas Sadaka | June 19, 2009 1:17 PM
Us Annapolitans sort of scoff at the idea of O'Malley using his dogs as props. Anyone who walks by his mansion will see various staffers taking care of the dog. Today it was the Senate EHEA Counsel who was out walking the dogs. Tomorrow it will be Speaker Busch's press flack.
And what's with the garden? The First Lady hasn't been in it since she put the sign up!
I mean with three kids...how can one of them not let the dogs out?
Posted by: Bill Pines | June 19, 2009 10:40 PM
Bill P.--count again--there are four O'M kids.
Posted by: Dahlink | June 20, 2009 11:13 AM
Yes, we have laws on the books against dog fighting, but it is rampant in Baltimore. What actions are going to be taken to combat a street culture that thrives on violence? And not just violence against animals, but fellow humans as well.
We can state that there are laws on the books until we're blue in the face, but without proper action and enforcement a law isn't worth the paper its written on.
Posted by: Audrey | June 20, 2009 2:13 PM