AUGUSTA – Though Maine’s laws were recently ranked second-best in the nation for protecting pets and fighting animal cruelty, animal welfare advocates say more could be done.

A bill, proposed by Rep. Dick Wagner, D-Lewiston, that would make it illegal to possess dogfighting or cockfighting paraphernalia and make it a felony to be a spectator during an animal fight faced a public hearing before a legislative committee on Wednesday.

Examples of the type of equipment that would be banned included long spurs used in cockfighting, jump or spring poles, fighting pits, bite sticks, heavy chains and illegal drugs such as amphetamines or steroids that are commonly administered to fighting dogs, according to the bill’s supporters.

Opponents of the bill told the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee they were worried that regular dog-training equipment would be mistaken for fighting gear.

“Obedience collars, prong collars, remote training collars, chain collars are all routine methods of dog training,” said Ann H. Short, who serves as a director at the Central Maine Brittany Club. “An innocent person could easily be convicted for being in possession of ‘animal-fighting paraphernalia.'”

Anne Jordan, Maine’s commissioner of public safety, said state officers who would be responsible for enforcing the law would apply common sense to such situations.

“If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, in most instances, it’s probably a duck,” she said, while testifying neither for nor against the proposal. “You have to give law enforcement some credit for having some brains.”

No one at the public hearing could offer more than anecdotal evidence that dogfighting or cockfighting exists in Maine, though there have been isolated incidents in the past.

In 1999, seven dead pit bulls or pit bull mixes were found on the Auburn banks of the Androscoggin River by Bentley Rathbun, Auburn’s animal control officer, according to Sun Journal archives. Two of the dogs exhibited bite marks consistent with dogfighting, Rathbun had said.

Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, said that in the past 50 to 60 years, there have been only two known cases of cockfighting.

“One was about 20 years ago in Wales,” he said. “There were about 20 arrests; we raided the place on a weekend. The cockfighting was in a basement.”

The other case occurred about 50 years ago, McCausland said.

Local police officials said they haven’t received any complaints of suspected dogfighting in recent years.

Twenty-six states have felony penalties for being a spectator at a dogfight, but the penalty in Maine is only a misdemeanor, said Katie Lisnik, state director of the Humane Society of the United States.

Jordan, who offered the committee suggestions to clarify the bill’s language, said research indicates a link between dogfighting and other serious crimes.

“Dogfighting is not a crime that remains in isolation,” she said.

A committee work session for the bill is scheduled for March 4.