BY KRISTEN WYATT The Associated Press

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- News of a grisly dogfighting operation run by disgraced NFL star Michael Vick has grabbed the attention of state legislators, with proposals pending in dozens of states to toughen penalties for animal fighting or animal cruelty.

"The problem came to a forefront with what happened in the Vick case," said Maryland Delegate Barbara Frush, D-Prince George's, who introduced a bill Friday calling for tougher dogfighting and cockfighting penalties.

After reading gruesome accounts of the pit bull operation Vick ran in Virginia, Frush decided Maryland laws needed to be strengthened.

"It's one of those things that goes on in the backwoods, that goes on out of sight," Frush said. "We don't know where or in whose basement this is going on."

Frush's proposal is one of several coming before Maryland lawmakers this term as state legislatures nationwide take up animal measures in reaction to the Vick case.

In Virginia, a bill to make cockfighting a felony and crack down on dogfighting is pending in the state Senate. On Monday, the Georgia House voted overwhelmingly to make it a crime to attend a dog fight.

Washington state, meanwhile, is considering requiring those convicted of animal cruelty to submit DNA to a state database. Ohio lawmakers may increase the penalty for fighting animals and allow items seized to be used to pay for caring for the animals. A similar forfeiture bill is under consideration in California.

National animal-rights activists say the Vick case, in which the former Atlanta Falcons star admitted raising pit bulls and training them for fights, has sparked proposed legislation in dozens of states.

"We're seeing really an extremely impressive movement among state legislatures to upgrade their animal cruelty laws," said Dale Bartlett, deputy manager for animal cruelty issues for The Humane Society of the United States, based in Gaithersburg, Md.

Bartlett testified this week in favor of one of Maryland's bills, a measure requiring counseling for people convicted of some types of animal cruelty.

"Statistics show that people who are very cruel to animals, who do unbelievable things to animals, are more likely to commit crimes against other people," said Delegate Nicholaus Kipke, R-Anne Arundel, who sponsored that bill.

Congress is also considering a few animal cruelty bills, including a measure to require federal tracking of animal cruelty cases. Bartlett said the Vick case last summer made cruelty bills more common, but that the trend toward better animal protections goes back more than 20 years. In 1986, he said, only four state had felony provisions for animal cruelty convictions. Today, 43 states have felony provisions.

"People are seeing that animal cruelty is very serious crime," Bartlett said.

Frush said it's too soon to know whether Maryland will crack down on animal cruelty, but said she expects the Vick case will make the bills an easier sell.

"If we have the likes of Michael Vick, who is such a hero to children, and certainly doesn't need the money, to do that, it sends a message that it's not that bad," Frush said. "We've got to act."