Senate Passes Farm Bill; Makes Attending an Animal Fight a Federal Crime

Dear Senator,

I wish to congratulate and Thank You immensely for taking a stance on the unpopular (in your fellow Senators minds) and recently passed US Farm Bill which makes cock fighting illegal in all 50 states. It is refreshing to see someone in our Legislature do this as we all know the hurdles that must be crossed and personalities involved in speaking out against this barbaric and inhumane blood sport.

There is NO culture in pitting animals to fight to the death for that sake of gambling and of which there are unreported earnings, low life attendance of people that deal in all types of nefarious and illegal activities.

I am happy to help in any way and am trying to garner support to ban this type of cruelty with input from all our animal welfare programs, the islands veterinarians, animal activists plus just people that care about the plight of the unfortunate fowl and neighbors of those that raise roosters for this small and completely disgusting disregard for animal welfare, in the many forms it takes.

Let's not forget that Federal Grants bring in much needed money into the USVI and to turn away from a moral and ethical standard on this issue may, over time, jeopardize those monies not to mention turn people/investors away from our islands.

The whole Animal Cruelty bill needs to be revisited in totality.
There is so much wrong.

When our zoning laws do not protect us from neighbors in residential properties keeping fowl (roosters and chickens plus peacocks in STJ, especially) that crow all night and crap all over your property, farm animals (goats, sheep, cattle, donkeys, etc. ) that emit odors from excrement and create noise coming from your next doors neighbors property, neighbors dogs that are tied to a tree and howl on night, people do not have any recourse, at this point in time and one can spend months trying to get these situations resolved.

These are all animal issues as well. People reach the end of their rope and poison and kill these animals or are forced to suffer the consequences of the Governments inability and unwillingness to take charge of these situations.
When our animal cruelty laws, pitiful as they are, are neither enforced nor updated the problems become compounded.

Happy to help with my contacts if you need support.

This was sent to Sen. Nereida "Nellie" Rivera-O'Reilly as well as all other 14 Senators.
Hope you ALL will join in stating your abhorrence for this and other types of cruelty that INFEST our islands.

Response From Senator Sen. Nereida "Nellie" Rivera-O'Reilly:

Nice to hear from you. Thank you very much. I usually stand alone on many issues. Good thing my mother taught me well.
She always said "I was born alone and should always be willing to stand alone"...she is a wise woman indeed. "

Fabulous letter which we will put on our website; it's simple: violence breeds violence. There is no excuse in calling it " culture".
I have been trying for some time to get the Humane Society to share a " enforcer " with Lucky Paws... As you know we have some anti-cruelty laws but without enforcement the abuse continues.. I have looked at Antigua as a model and met with several people on that island and think with certain revisions it can not only work here but actually the position will pay for itself in the fines raised. I will do what I can to abolish cockfighting on our island. As I told you before my time is extremely limited as I am already heavily involved in 2 programs of the foundation: Cat Cafe & SNIP. Our mission is simple: stop the killing of healthy & adoptable animals and promote a compassionate lifestyle . We all must work together to accomplish a better future for the abused animals whether they are roosters, dolphins, cats or dogs. I do admire your spirit Alana because u always speak up and do what is right and not what is easy. You can count on me to end this brutal practice...

Dellia Holodenschi
Founder
Lucky Paws Foundation
Luckypawssttvi.com

Lucky Paws always can use donations or time and cash so if interested in helping, please contact Dellia.
Please contact your Senators to request that our antiquated animal cruelty laws are brought up to date, cockfighting finally gets banned and enforcement of the laws are provided.

You can make a positive change for the better.
We are working on a petiton at this time and will post it when done.
Thank you.

All good reading:

http://aldf.org/wp-content/themes/aldf/compendium-map/us/2013/territories/VIRGIN-ISLANDS.pdf

http://aldf.org/resources/advocating-for-animals/model-animal-protection-laws-collection/

http://www.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2014/03/Anim_Fight_Spect_Prohib_Act_031314.html

http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/cockfighting/facts/cockfighting_fact_sheet.html

http://www.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2011/08/tough_new_texas_cockfighting_law_090111.html

"Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty."
--Albert Einstein, physicist