Well, it's really over this time. We fought the good fight but SB143 is officially dead. All those phone calls you made and emails you sent all day on Tuesday 3/24 breathed some life back into the Bill. All those ringing phones convinced the Senate leaders that they should try to do something to take the heat off. So the bill was resurrected and sent back to conference to see if a solution could be worked out. Around 2:00 that day Republican Senator Damon Thayer tweeted the following: To those fretting about #sb143, #kyga15 isn't over til 12 am. We're hoping 4 conference committee to make it better. Our hopes rose that maybe we could still get the Bill passed - or at least to the floor for a roll-call vote. Once in conference our side negotiated in good faith, but the supporters of dog-fighting wouldn't. Our side agreed to change the wording from all four-legged animals to canine on canine fighting. (Every other state specifies no fighting between all four-legged animals for profit or pleasure. The reason is dogs now are being made to fight hogs, bears and other animals). But our side was willing to change that wording to save the Bill. We knew we could come back next January and try to change it back to all four-legged animals. The entire day and evening was a roller coaster. At times it seemed progress was being made and the opposition was willing to give a little, and then we'd get word that it was not going to make it. Needless to say we were devastated to learn shortly after midnight that the Bill was dead. Senate President Robert Stivers is the leader of his party in the Senate. Members of his party take their marching orders from him. If he had instructed them to negotiate in good faith, they would have. So the responsibility for KY remaining the dog-fighting capitol of the country is on him. We can only speculate as to why the Senate chose to ignore the wishes of 85 - 90% of Kentuckians in favor of a small percentage of Kentuckians who opposed SB143. Most of the opposition seems to have come from a group called, Kentucky Houndsmen Association. Perhaps the Senators who opposed the Bill are members of that group. If true, would that not be considered an issue of serving their own interest instead of the interests of their constituents? Was their opposition based on the fear that they Bill would make it illegal to hunt? No that couldn't have been the issue since the Bill included an exemption for hunting. The exemption reads: Activities of animals engaged in hunting, field trials, dog training, and other activities authorized either by a hunting license or by the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources shall not constitute a violation of this section. Thanks to each and every one of you who signed this petition. Thank you for your calls and your email. Your support buoyed us when our spirits were low. We lost this battle and so many innocent creatures will suffer for it, but we haven't stopped fighting. We're marshaling our forces to come back even stronger in the months ahead. We hope you will join us. Here's How YOU can Help! We're formulating plans to tackle dog-fighting and other animal cruelty not just in KY but across the country. It is time for us as a society to demand that animal cruelty not be tolerated anywhere; and to acknowledge that those who engage in it are a threat to society. We will demand that laws be changed so these monsters can be apprehended and punished for their heinous actions. We want all of you to join us. Because we need to act quickly, we're beginning with a just established Facebook Group, entitled "UNITED Against Dog-Fighting". Please look for it and join so you can keep informed on the plans. UNITED, we will work together to make our world a little more compassionate for the dogs and other animals who don't deserve this heinous treatment.