Brooks Law Digest: Animal Fighting

Louisiana SB 425 proposes to change the treatment of dogs and other animals seized from animal fighting operations. Rather than requiring the euthanasia of all such animals as “dangerous dogs,” as they currently are, this legislation would require individual evaluation of each animal and provide for the placement of them if deemed appropriate.

New Jersey Assembly Bill 3231 proposes to ban “trunk fighting,” defined as “the practice of enclosing two or more animals in the trunk or any part of a motor vehicle for the purpose of the animals attacking each other, and possibly fighting until one or more of the animals are dead.” The legislation would make the act a crime of the third degree.

Connecticut House Bill 5338 proposes to amend the state’s anti-cruelty statute to also criminalize the possession, sale, purchase, transfer, or manufacture of animal fighting paraphernalia, including unprescribed veterinary medicine. The offense would constitute a class E felony.