Lawmakers: Tougher dog fighting law coming, but not this year

Animal advocates who have been pushing for a tougher law against animal fighting are being asked for patience.

Indiana law already states a person who organizes or participates in an animal fight faces a felony charge.  However, someone who simply attends an animal fight faces a misdemeanor.

SB 11, which has already passed the Indiana Senate, would make that misdemeanor charge a felony, but the bill has not been given a hearing in the House Courts and Criminal Codes Committee.

"No, it's not been assigned a hearing, and it's not going to be assigned a hearing this year," said the committee’s Chair Rep. Greg Steuerwald (R, Hendricks County).

Steuerwald said it is not that he opposes the bill, but he wants it to be part of an overall rewrite of the Indiana Criminal Code, which is planned for a summer study this year.

"Criminal code has not been modified in its total since 1974," said Steuerwald.  "It's long overdue."

That means animal advocates will have to wait a little longer.

Organizations like the Humane Society have been pushing for the law change for five years.

Anne Sterling, who represents the Humane Society, said Indiana is behind the times without tougher penalties against animal fight spectators.

"These people come, they bet on animal fighting, they often bring drugs, illegal weapons with them," said Sterling.  "These are not the type of events obviously or folks that you want in your back yard."

Nina Gaither, who brought her rescued pit bull to the statehouse Tuesday, said she accepts Steuerwald's explanation for not advancing SB 11 this session.  However, she also said he will not be satisfied until Indiana's dog fighting law has more teeth.

"Whether it gets passed now, whether it gets passed in the fall, next legislative session, we just want it done and we want it done correctly," said Gaither.

The overhaul of the criminal code has been in the works for a couple years now, and is expected to be a major issue of next year's legislative session.