Ohio House passes bill targeting animal fighting

February 25, 2016 at 12:06a.m.

COLUMBUS

Spectators who pay to watch, bet or provide supplies for cockfighting and other animal-fighting rings would face increased criminal penalties, under legislation passed by the Ohio House on Wednesday.

House Bill 215 passed on a vote of 85-7 and heads to the Ohio Senate for further consideration.

In Youngstown, authorities investigated two separate cockfighting rings during the same week in January.

On the East Side, U.S. marshals happened upon 20 birds and an additional 25 that were dead Jan. 26 at a Myron Street home. Two days later, authorities served a search warrant at an East Lucius Avenue home on the South Side and found several birds there as well. So far, no charges have been filed in either case.

Existing law already prohibits cockfighting, bear baiting or pitting animals against one another, with misdemeanor charges possible.

HB 215 adds potential felony charges for being employed by such animal-fighting rings, betting on results, paying admission to events and related activities. Offenders could face fines of up to $10,000, though jail sentences would not be mandated.

Rep. Heather Bishoff, a Democrat from Blacklick, a primary co-sponsor, said 40 other states already have made animal-fighting-related crimes felonies.

Ohio’s laws are more lenient, and people from other states are coming into the state to participate in animal-fighting activities, said Rep. Barbara Sears, a Toledo Republican, the other primary co-sponsor.

“It’s not just two animals going at each other,” Bischoff said. “They’ve attached instruments to increase the brutality of these fights. Bear baiting – they’re caging an animal and letting dogs go after the animal.”

Jim Chakeres, executive vice president of the Ohio Poultry Association, praised passage of the bill Wednesday.

“Cockfighting is a terrible practice. Birds used for cockfighting are forced to fight to the death with metal weapons attached to their legs,” he said in statement. “There is simply no reason to subject birds to this type of senseless cruelty. Cockfighters come to Ohio because we have one of the weakest cockfighting laws in the nation. Ohio has seen charges for cockfighting from Toledo to Youngstown, where those who participate face at most a fourth-degree misdemeanor and small fine under current law.”

But there was opposition to the bill. Rep. Nino Vitale, a Republican from Urbana, voiced concern about the future impacts of the legislation, potentially preventing firearm ownership later in life for those convicted of attending animal fights during their younger years.