Senate OKs Ensign’s animal fighting bill

Suzanne Struglinski

Tuesday, May 3, 2005 | 9:41 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The Senate has approved Sen. John Ensign's bill aiming at limiting animal fighting in the United States.

Ensign, R-Nev., has introduced the bill before, but it has not succeeded. The Senate included it in a larger bill during the last session of Congress but it was taken out during final negotiations.

On Friday the Senate passed Ensign's bill that makes transporting animals specifically for fighting a felony, with a penalty of up to two years in prison and prohibits the transportation of tools specifically design for animal fighting.

"As a veterinarian, I saw firsthand the devastating results of animal fighting," Ensign said. "It is hard to believe that human beings can purposely bring pain to innocent animals, but it happens every day across the country."

The bill, known as the "Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act of 2005," has support from more than 200 police and sheriffs' departments across the country, the Agriculture Department, the National Chicken Council, the American Veterinary Medical Association and the Humane Society of the United States.