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November 27, 2009

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Letter: Ensign taking lead in fighting animal cruelty

Tuesday, May 10, 2005 | 9:24 a.m.

Nevada's John Ensign has worked diligently during his time in the U.S. Senate to combat animal cruelty. On April 28 a bill that he introduced to increase penalties and otherwise strengthen the nation's federal law against illegal dogfighting and cockfighting passed the Senate by a unanimous vote. The Humane Society of the United States applauds Sen. Ensign for his leadership on this important issue.

Dogfighting and cockfighting are gruesome and barbaric practices that should receive no protection under the law. It is wrong to breed animals for aggression, to place them in a pit from which they cannot escape and to goad them to fight until they are severely injured or killed. It's a miserable end for animals that never choose such a life, and it's dehumanizing for the people there who are titillated by the spectacle of watching animals bloody one another in lethal combat.

Sen. Ensign's bill, if now approved by the House, will go a long way toward eliminating the animal fighting industry in the United States.

WAYNE PACELLE Washington, D.C.

Editor's note: The writer is president and chief executive officer of The Humane Society of the United States.

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