| So far this year, dogs, cats, and chickens are receiving better treatment from the Alabama legislature than women and schoolchildren. Still, in this legislative environment, we have to take the good news where we can find it. Finally, meaningful animal protection legislation is moving through committees.  SB-175 passed out of committee yesterday. Sponsored by Senator Cam Ward, the bill raises the penalty for cockfighting from a slap-on-the-wrist maximum fine of $50 to a Class A Misdemeanor with a possible fine of $20,000. This has amazingly been a controversial issue in the past. As AL.com reported last year, the "Cockfighting Lobby" was working hard to derail the bill: Posting on an online message board, Lewis warned about the legislation and asked for contributions to help the Alabama Gamefowl Breeders Association, or ALGBA, fight it. "Get your checkbook out and mail in your dues, no excuses, and make another check out for a donation to ALGBA because your hobby just got a lot more expensive," Lewis wrote. Asked whether "hobby" referred to cockfighting, she said: "The majority of people who have gamecocks in Alabama, yeah they do cockfight as a hobby. ... That is not to say that all the members of the Alabama Gamefowl Breeders Association are cockfighters."
How creepy is it that Alabama has an organized "cockfighting lobby" and this incredibly cruel practice is viewed as a "hobby?" Yet another black eye for a state that already has too many strikes against its public image. Representative Patricia Todd sponsored HB156: ...the bill provides for an amendment to the state Veterinary Practice Law that would allow a veterinarian to work for a nonprofit spay/neuter not owned by another vet. Last year, the Alabama Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners closed one of the state's four nonprofit low-cost spay/neuter clinics in Huntsville and threatened to close Alabama Spay/Neuter in Irondale. State board officials said the clinics were operating illegally because the vets who worked there were hired by a non-veterinarian. In the case of Alabama Spay/Neuter, the clinic is owned as a nonprofit entity by a Birmingham vet.
This bill is a big deal among animal welfare advocates - and anyone concerned about over-population. We wrote about the issue with the Huntsville clinic last spring and the clinic only managed to reopen last month. So far, these bills have passed out of committee in just one chamber. Your legislators need to hear from you in support of the bills. Find them & their contact information at OpenBama.org. |
