Update May 10, 2008 Governor Sonny Perdue has now signed this bill into law.
Update March 28, 2008: The Georgia House voted overwhelmingly to accept the Senate substitute described in our earlier report below. The Georgia Senate then passed uanimously the bill as amended H.B. 301. The bill is now on Governor Sonny Perdue’s desk for signature.
Update March 12, 2008: The Georgia Senate has passed unanimously a substitute bill to expand the authority of law enforcement to stop dog fighting. The bill, H.B. 301, now goes back to the House for approval of the Senate substitute.
The bill initially passed the House in January.]
This is not as strong a bill as proposed last year by Sen. Chip Rogers. That bill, S.B. 16, also passed the Senate.
This bill, H.B. 301, which was sponsored in the House by Rep. Bobby Reese and this year by Sen. Chip Rogers in the Senate, will make it illegal to own, possess, transport, or sell dogs for fighting, advertise or promote dog fighting, cause dogs to fight, gamble on dog fighting, or allow dog fighting on your premises or under your control.
In effect, the new law would make illegal many aspects of dog fighting. Currently, Georgia has a fairly weak dog fighting law. And that’s probably overstating it. The current law basically limits any prosecution for dog fighting to those caught in the act of actually goading or allowing dogs to fight. O.C.G.A. § 16-12-37
Under H.B. 301 these crimes would be a felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a $5,000 fine on the first offense and up to 10 years in prison and a $15,000 fine on the second and subsequent offenses.
The new bill would also make it a misdemeanor for the first offense of attending a dog fight but a felony for second and subsequent offenses.
There would be no ban on breeding dogs for fighting, baiting or possessing dog fighting paraphernalia.
Dogs used for fighting may be seized and impounded for fighting and must be spayed/neutered; if the owner is convicted of a violation of the dog fighting law, then he or she is responsible for the costs of spay/neuter.
The version passed by the House did not include the mandatory spay/neuter requirement or make it a crime to advertise or promote dog fighting. It is these changes by the Senate that the House must now approve.
Specifics of the proposed dog fighting bill
Sen. Rogers sponsored the inital bill, S.B. 16, last year after a dog trained to fight attacked a young boy, requiring the child to undergo 8 surgeries on his face.
That bill was more comprehensive than H.B. 301. It would have held accountable owners, breeders, trainers, transporters, sellers or purchasers of fighting dogs. The law would have made it a felony for anyone to (1) provoke, harass, or encourage a dog with another animal for the specific purpose of training a dog for or causing a dog to engage in fighting (also known as baiting); (2) train, purchase, sell, transport, transfer, breed, or equip any dog for baiting or dog fighting activity; (3) possess dogs for baiting or fighting, (4) possess dog fighting paraphernalia, (5) rent, obtain or make available any property or location for the purpose of dogfighting, (6) organize, facilitate, conduct, referee, promote, advertise, sponsor, charge admission for or serve as the stakeholder for any dog fighting or baiting activity, (7) bet, gamble or encourage anyone else to do so on any baiting or dog fighting activity, (8) attend a dog fight.
The sentences under S.B. 16 would have been the same as the current bill except that under S.B. 16 the court could have prohibited the offender from owning or possessing any dog or having a dog on his property during the term of his sentence.
Click here for a copy of the latest version of H.B. 301.
Raids in recent years revealed widespread dog fighting operations in Georgia
There have been several raids in recent years in Georgia in the effort to stop dog fighting, including one in Newton County in January, 2004 in which authorities interrupted a well-attended dog fight in progress. But authorities have had a difficult time prosecuting anyone under the current law. At the time he introduced SB 16, Sen. Rogers noted there was only one person actually in jail in Georgia for dogfighting.
In the Newton County raid police arrested 123 people who had gathered at a farmhouse for a dog fight. The winner-take-all pot was $50,000. The dog fighting ring was set up in the front room of the house. There was blood everywhere, on the walls, the carpet. One dog was dead at the side of the "ring". Another was so badly injured it was later euthanized. Thirteen other dogs were taken to animal control facilities.
The charges filed included felony cruelty to animals, dog fighting and commercial gambling.
Authorities also seized guns, cars, dog fighting magazines, several kilograms of marijuana and cocaine and more than $140,000. There were four trophies found that had been engraved with the date of the fight.