Cruelty To Animals – Bait Dogs has particularly affected Anne Arundel County where two canine victims were found and nursed back to health
Dog Baiting Bill Nears Passage
Capital Newspaper, March 23, 2013
The General Assembly is likely to pass a measure that would treat dog baiting the same as dog fighting.
The Senate on Thursday voted 47-0 to pass Senate Bill 360. The House also gave preliminary approval to its version of the bill, House Bill 542.
Similar legislation failed last year.
In baiting, a dog is used to train a fighting dog or to test the fighting or killing instinct of another dog.
Sen. Bryan Simonaire, R-Pasadena, and Del. Tony McConkey, R-Severna Park, introduced bills last March after two wounded dogs were found in Brooklyn Park and Linthicum. Neither bill had gotten a vote by the time the regular session ended.
Simonaire and McConkey renewed their effort this year, with the support of animal rights activists and law enforcement officials.
Under the bills, using dogs as bait animals could result in imprisonment for up to three years and a $5,000 fine — the same punishment as for dog fighting.
“For some reason Maryland had not put it in our lawbooks,” Simonaire said after last year’s session. “This will take care of it and give the police the tools to get these criminals who are doing vicious things.”
Last year a pit bull, dubbed Rocky Road, was found on the side of the road in Linthicum in February with injuries to the chest, head and legs. Another pit bull, called Princess, was found in Brooklyn Park in March with similar wounds.
In October, a pit bull mix named Molly was found badly injured in an abandoned home in Baltimore City after being used as a bait dog.
Molly died in February, Simonaire said. He had planned to bring her to the Senate for the bill’s passage. Now, he calls the measure that passed Thursday “Molly’s Law.”
The Humane Society of the United States ranks Maryland as 43rd in the country in anti-dog fighting legislation. It says only seven states having weaker laws.