La. House OKs bill outlawing 'hog-dog' event

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- After watching grainy video images of dogs clamping their jaws onto squealing hogs, Louisiana House members voted 75-25 Tuesday to outlaw "hog-dog" events popular in some rural areas.
Democratic Rep. Warren Triche showed fellow legislators video news tape of hog-dog events in Clarke County, Ala., to try to convince them that such events are "violent cruel, inhumane, barbaric and damn well sadistic."
Triche said the violent hog-dog events contribute to Louisiana's poor national image and harm economic development efforts, but Rep. Troy Hebert, another Democrat, said Triche was attacking a feature of rural life.
The events, similar to cockfighting, take place in pits, and Triche said he believes they often are accompanied by illegal betting. News reports have recently drawn attention to hog-dog events in some parishes north of Baton Rouge.
The legislation treaded a fine line in a state where a growing tourist attraction is "Uncle Earl's Hog Dog Trials" in the central Louisiana town of Winnfield. Triche assured lawmakers that competitions such as Uncle Earl's, in which dogs merely chase and corner hogs, would remain legal because his bill banned events where animals were intended to maim or kill.
Democratic Rep. Taylor Townsend said the bill is unnecessary because animal cruelty statutes cover such events. Supporters of the bill contend it is needed because rural sheriffs and district attorneys are not enforcing those laws against producers of hog-dog events.
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