ASPCA Welcomes Law Boosting Penalties For Rooster Fights In New York
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- A new law signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo provides for stronger penalties for for spectators attending animal fights in New York.
The bill raises the penalty from a violation to a misdemeanor. The offender could serve up to three months in jail and pay a maximum fine of up to $500.
LISTEN: Monica Miller reports
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Deborah Bresh from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals approved of the change.
"We've gone from a traffic-style violation, to a crime," she told Monica Miller. "Being a spectator at an animal fight has not even been a crime up until this point. Now there's actually someone who attends a fight will actually have a criminal record if they're caught."
Bresh also says it doesn't have to be proven that the violator wagered on the fight.
More than 30 people were arrested last February in Suffolk County after police raided a Long Island rooster fighting operation.
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