lickety jackblog

our friend sarge sent me this:



"House panel backs bill to outlaw hog-dog fighting competitions"

By CHRIS FRINK

Capitol news bureau

A heavily amended -- and opposed -- bill aimed at outlawing fights between dogs and hogs cleared a House committee Wednesday. Rep. Warren Triche, D-Thibodaux, told the House Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice that he had significantly changed his House Bill 1244 to mollify opponents.

Those opponents included former Sen. B.B. "Sixty" Rayburn, who told the committee that late Gov. "Uncle" Earl Long first took him hog hunting in 1948.

"This is the most discussed bill this session," said committee Chairman Rep. Danny Martini, R-Metairie.

Proponents showed television coverage of a hog-dog fight in Clarke County, Ala. The report showed smiling families watching a pit bull rip the head of a hog whose tusks had been removed.

Members voted 8-3 for legislation that would outlaw spectator events in which dogs attack feral hogs with the intent or likelihood is that one of the animals would maim or kill the other.

The reconfigured HB1244 would allow hog hunting, hog herding, hog trials and other hog-related sporting events, Triche said.

Hog-dog trials involve trained dogs chasing and chomping down -- often on the ears -- a penned feral hog.

The legislation, sponsored by the Humane Society of the United States, was prompted by media reports of a hog-dog competition in East Feliciana Parish.

The bill specifically exempts Uncle Earl's Hog Dog Trials held annually in Winnfield and designated as the state's official hog trials, Triche said.

Triche -- along with several animal-welfare supporters -- said the bill is aimed at outlawing organized fights between hogs and dogs the same way dog fighting is illegal.

"The only person who should be in favor of this bill is the person who is in favor of animal cruelty," he said.

The bill is unnecessary, Rep. Taylor Townsend, D-Natchitoches, told the committee.

The state already has laws against animal cruelty that cover the activities the bill would ban, he said.

Rayburn -- and other bill opponents including Winnfield's mayor -- warned about the bill's supporters' motives.

They're out to ban hog trials and other hog-related events, Rayburn said.

"Once you open the door, the snakes go to walking," Rayburn said. "I can't understand why people are so upset about a hog's ear. If it was a ham, I could understand it."

"I'm worried about what this will down the road," Rayburn said.

The bill will be considered by the full House.

(slightly edited, picture included after the fact.)

Labels: congress

posted by candycanesammy @ 2:57 PM