When animal fights are raided by law enforcement, the people responsible know how to escape arrest: Just merge in with the crowd. It's impossible to tell who organized the fight and who's there just to watch.
But spectators at animal fights are not there accidentally, and they are not innocent parties. They intentionally seek out this criminal activity—illegal in all 50 states—often traveling across state lines for the entertainment of watching animals fight to the death and the opportunity to gamble on the outcome.
Spectators create the market and the demand for these disgusting, cruel events.
That's why we're fighting for a law that would make it a crime to attend an animal fight.
The Animal Fighting Spectator Prohibition Act would make it a federal offense to knowingly attend an organized animal fight and would impose additional penalties for bringing children to animal fights. Violators would face up to one year in prison for attending a fight, and up to three years in prison for bringing a minor to a fight.
We are working tirelessly for this and other measures that would crack down on animal fighting.
Our work to end blood sports is just one of the ways the ASPCA is working to end animal cruelty, in all its forms, across the country. Please join our fight by making a gift today. Thank you for your generosity.