[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 124 (Tuesday, July 31, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S10409]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DOGFIGHTING
Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, on July 26, I introduced critical
legislation to stem the rising tide of dogfighting in our country.
Dogfighting is one of society's most barbaric and inhumane activities.
The dogs are mistreated, starved and conditioned for aggression, and
then allowed to literally destroy one another in the ring. As we have
read in the recent indictment of Atlanta Falcon's quarterback Michael
Vick on dogfighting charges, poor-performing dogs are tortured, maimed,
and killed. This illegal and despicable activity has no place in a
civilized society.
However, dogfighting has expanded its hold in recent years. The
Humane Society of the United States estimates that 40,000 people in the
United States are involved in professional dogfighting, and fight
purses reach as high as $100,000. As many as 100,000 additional people
are involved in ``streetfighting,'' informal dogfighting that often
involves young people in gangs.
This legislation would place a Federal ban on all aspects of
dogfighting activity from owning to transporting to training dogs for
the purpose of fighting, to participating as a spectator at dogfighting
ventures. I hope this legislation will end the practice of dogfighting
in our country, once and for all.
This Congress's authority to make the lucrative commercial aspects of
dogfighting a crime cannot be doubted. Just 2 years ago, the Supreme
Court made clear in Gonzales v. Raich that Congress's authority under
the commerce clause extends to local activities that are an integral
component of interstate criminal activities.
This bill is well within that standard. As demonstrated in the Vick
indictment and by the many law enforcement records, animal welfare
reports, and economic studies that will be entered into the Record on
this bill the--dogfighting industry has become nationwide in scope, and
Congress is well within its authority to address both the nationwide
framework and localized branches that are a critical part of that
extensive criminal venture. We are dealing with a criminal industry has
developed into a multifaceted, national and international commercial
market that depends heavily upon illegal trafficking between States.
Dogfighting is an inherently commercial and economic activity that has
a substantial effect upon interstate commerce.
Dogfighting is an interconnected, nationwide, lucrative commercial
industry. In addition to high-stakes gambling, dogfighters exchange
tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars annually on the purchase
and sale of fighting dogs. Dog fighters also make top dollar by
breeding or selling ``stud'' privileges for fighting dogs, and can make
top dollar by breeding dogs that have proven themselves in the ring by
killing multiple other dogs.
This extensive commercial venture also requires trafficking in the
specialized equipment necessary to train and house fighting dogs. There
are even underground transport services to courier these dogs from one
match to the next--assuming they survive. Dog fighters also make a
living handling and training fighting dogs for well-funded sponsors--as
we saw in the Vick indictment.
It could not be clearer that the overwhelming majority of dog
fights--if not every single dog fight--are truly economic endeavors
that involve some element of interstate commerce, such as animals,
equipment, breeders, or spectators having traveled across State lines.
Many dog fights are conducted for the purposes of illegal gambling, and
some gambling on the sidelines is almost always present at these
fights. Dogfighting also burdens interstate commerce by increasing the
risk of injury or disease to both animals and humans, including dog
bites, rabies, and heartworms.
What's more, small, localized dogfighting ventures, when viewed in
the aggregate, have a substantial impact upon interstate commerce. As
the allegations I mentioned earlier against Michael Vick and his
codefendants demonstrate, large amounts of money are at stake in
dogfighting matches, and winners often take home all or some portion of
entry fees paid by other participants. The individual dogs used in
fighting can have a commercial value of between hundreds of dollars and
tens of thousands of dollars per animal. All of the activities
associated with dogfighting, including gambling and other illegal
activities, equipment outlays, breeding expenses, and promotion costs
are not only inherently commercial in nature but transcend State
boundaries.
By way of example, there are dozens of Federal criminal prohibitions
on the local creation, possession, and sale of narcotics and narcotic-
making equipment. Congress recognized that the illicit drug industry
had become nationwide in scope, and chose to exercise its
constitutional power to address the localized branches of that
extensive criminal venture. Likewise, this bill responds to the
proliferation of dog fighting into a nationwide criminal network of
local ventures, which Congress is similarly authorized to address. Just
look at the Endangered Species Act, which broadly restricts the
killing, taking, or breeding of certain wild animals, in order to
effectuate Congress's goal of preventing the extinction of imperiled
species. The ESA has been upheld as a valid exercise of Congress's
authority by every federal appeals court to address the issue, and the
Supreme Court has repeatedly declined to upset those judgments.
The effects of dogfighting on interstate commerce are neither
indirect, remote, nor attenuated. Regulation of dogfighting is
necessary to prevent and eliminate burdens upon interstate commerce. In
addition, the regulation of dogfighting is an essential part of a
larger regulatory scheme, the Animal Welfare Act, which mandates the
humane treatment of animals in our society.
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