THE LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS

Simi Valley, Calif — Actor Mickey Rooney joined animal rights activists and public officials this week in touting federal legislation that would outlaw "crush" videos, which depict small animals being killed by scantily clad women.

A bill by Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Oxnard, would provide a five-year prison sentence for the distributors of crush videos, shich depict a a little-known fetish that involves killing an animal on-screen for the sexual gratification of the viewer.

"What are we going to hand down to our children?" asked Rooney, who is active in animal-rights causes. "Are we going to hand down crush videos? It's despicable."

Investigators for Ventura County Distric Attorney Michael Bradbury said there are thousands of the videotapes selling for $60 to $100 each, in circulation around the world on hundred of Internet sites.

At a press conference at the east Ventura County courthouse, officials played several clips from the videos showing insects, kittens, guinea pigs and mice being crushed by women in bare feet or stilletto heels. The tapes' audio tracks enhanced the sounds.

Organizers said they want to expose the million dollar industry because viewers who find the videotapes thrilling might feel a desire to harm larger animals or even humas for a bigger thrill.

"It's the torturing of animals that we find the most offensive," said Beverlee McGrath of Oxnard, Calif., a representative of the Doris Day Animal League. "We wear animals. We eat animals. We experiment on them. Do we have to torture and kill them for entertainment?"

The New York chapter of the U.S. Humane Society and the Animal Defense League in Oregon turned videotapes over to Bradbury's investigators in May 1998.

Members of the groups said they bought the tapes over the Internet from a company called Steponit, which rented a mail drop box in Burbank and was traced to a man in Thousand Oaks, 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles, whom officials refused to identify.

District attorney's and sheriff's investigators from Ventura County tracked down three Southern California producers fo crush videos: Steponit. Squish Productions, and Getsmart. Deputy District Attorney Tom Connors said it is difficult to make arrests. Authorities must prove that the image were filmed within three years because of the statute of limitations on prosecuting cruelty to animals.

In May, Los Angeles County authorities arrested Gary Thomason of Long Beach, owner of Getsmart, on suspicion of cruelty to animals. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday in West Covina for Thomason and a co-defendant Diane Aileen Chaffin, on three felony counts of turturing, maiming, and killing mice, including newborn mice, and rats.

They are accused of making a video in which the woman stomped rodents to death with high-heeled shoes. Chaffin is jailed in lieu of $45,000 bail. Thomason is free.

Connors said investigators are compiling a case against Steponit in hope of opening up a grand jury investigation.

Gallegly said his bill is aimed at the distributors to attack the industry at the money source.

"We clearly drafted it to make sure that it doesn't get involved in violating First Amendmant rights for freedom of speech," he said. "We don't want these perpetrators to use (the Contitution_ as a right to perpetuate this action."

Just as there is no constitutional right to tape and sell child pornography, ther is no right to tape and sell videos of cruelty to animals, he said.