In October 2004, police raided the home of Eduardo Ribaya in Vancouver, Washington. Authorities seized 21 pit bulls, a photograph of three pit bulls attacking a live boar, and various veterinary supplies and equipment associated with dogfighting.

Spotting Legal Soft Spots

When the Vancouver City Attorney asked Pacific Northwest Regional Office (PNRO) Regional Director Robert Reder to assist in the case, a weakness in Washington’s animal fighting law became evident. Authorities charged Ribaya with only five misdemeanors because they did not believe they held enough evidence to meet the level of proof prescribed in the narrow scope of the existing felony law.

At a press conference in Vancouver, Reder promised that The HSUS would use its resources to help strengthen the law. On May 16, 2005, Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire signed H.B. 1304, making dogfighting and cockfighting class C felonies, punishable by as many as five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The law went into effect July 1, 2005.

Crackdown on Cruelty

Sponsored by Reps. Tom Campbell (R-2) and Lynn Kessler (D-24), and unanimously approved by the Legislature, H.B. 1304 specifies that a person commits the crime of animal fighting if that person knowingly owns, possesses, keeps, breeds, trains, buys, sells, advertises, or offers for sale an animal with the intent that the animal be engaged in a fight with another animal. It also addresses the deplorable acts of taking stray animals or stealing pets for the purposes of training or baiting for animal fighting.

Until now, animal fighters from nearby states such as Oregon, where the activity is already a felony, relocated their animals across the border to Washington. Animal fighters considered fines and penalties handed down by the state simply the cost of doing business, a small price to pay when literally thousands of gambling dollars can ride on the outcome of matches.

Credit for passage of this bill goes to the sponsoring legislators, HSUS legislative consultants Jennifer Hillman and Carey Morris, and the compelling testimony given by prosecutors, humane officers, and Reder.

What's Next?

PNRO now turns its legislative efforts to Idaho, where animal fighting and all forms of animal cruelty remain misdemeanor offenses. Reder promises a concerted effort to improve Idaho's laws in the 2006 legislative session.

Watch PNRO’s Legislative Activities page for updates.