AR-News: Hog Dog Fighting Ban Clears LA House, Onto Senate

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Louisiana House votes to outlaw violent 'hog dog'
events 

By KEVIN McGILL 
The Associated Press 
4/27/2004, 6:04 p.m. CT 

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — While grainy video images of
dogs clamping their jaws onto squealing hogs flickered
on television screens around the chamber, Louisiana
House members voted 75-25 to outlaw violent "hog dog"
events popular in some rural areas.


The legislation by Rep. Warren Triche, D-Thibodaux,
treads a fine line in a state where a growing tourist
attraction is "Uncle Earl's Hog Dog Trials" in the
central Louisiana town of Winnfield.

Triche assured House members that such events —
competitions in which crowds watch dogs chase and
corner hogs — would remain legal under his proposed
law, which specifically exempts the "Uncle Earl's"
event. Hog hunting and the training of dogs to hunt
wild hogs would also remain legal, he said.

Outlawed in the bill would be events in which the
intent or likelihood is that one of the animals will
maim or kill the other.

Characterizing such events as "violent cruel, inhumane
barbaric and damn well sadistic," Triche said the
violent hog dog events contribute to Louisiana's poor
national image and harm economic development efforts.

Triche opened debate on a light note, donning a
plastic pig's nose, prompting House members' laughter
and calls of "sooooeee."

Meanwhile, closed-circuit televisions at House
members' desks showed video news tape taken at hog dog
events in Clarke County, Ala.

Some among Triche's opponents resented his use of the
visual aid.

"On channel 73 if you put your headphones on you can
hear a recording of boiled crawfish hollering when you
stick them in the water," said Rep. Troy Hebert,
D-Jeanerette.

Casting the debate as an urban-vs.-rural fight, Hebert
said Triche was attacking a way of life in the
country.

Another representative from a largely rural area, Rep.
Taylor Townsend, D-Natchitoches, said the bill is
unnecessary because current animal cruelty statutes
cover such issues.

"We shouldn't be in the business of enacting a
statute, which is a duplicate statute of one that's
already on the books," Townsend said.

Supporters of the bill have said it is needed because
rural sheriffs and district attorneys are not
enforcing those laws against producers of the hog-dog
events.

The bill, which moves next to the state Senate, is one
of two animal welfare measures pending in the
Legislature. The other is Rep. Karen Carter's law that
would outlaw cockfighting in Louisiana, one of just
two states where it remains legal.

Current animal cruelty laws allow cockfighting because
they state that "fowl" shall not be defined as
animals. Carter's bill is awaiting a committee
hearing.

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. 



	
		
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