The Tennessee General Assembly has sent legislation to Governor Bill Haslam that strengthens penalties for attending an animal fight or bringing a child to an animal fight. The 90-2 vote in the House follows a 24-1 Senate vote last month, marking the end of a seven-year campaign to strengthen penalties for animal fighting in Tennessee.
The legislation, sponsored by Senator Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro, and Rep. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, makes it a Class A misdemeanor to attend an animal fight or to bring a child to an animal fight.
Both provisions contain maximum penalties of up to 11 months and 29 days in jail and up to $2,500 in fines. Bringing a child to an animal fight will carry a mandatory minimum fine of $1,000. The bill was SB 1024 in the Senate and HB 962 in the House.
Leighann Lassiter, Tennessee director for the Humane Society of the United States, issued the following statement: “The General Assembly has spoken loud and clear, and the message is: Tennessee will no longer be a refuge for anyone who sets animals against each other in fights to the death. Senator Ketron and Rep. Lundberg and 112 of their colleagues have made our state a more humane place with their good work.”
The Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission and Sevier County Sheriff Ronald Seals supported the bill.