Published: April 07, 2008 03:18 pm            

Cockfighting illegal, but difficult to bust in some states

ATHENS, Ala. — In a mesh sack that once contained 50 pounds of Solar brand sweet Spanish onions, Bobby Turner found a bloodied, dead rooster along the road ditch near his home.

It was the second time in two weeks he had seen the sight while driving along Lawngate Road in western Limestone County.

“People drop off cats and dogs out here all the time, but they are alive,” said the 62-year-old retired engineer. “I am an animal lover, myself. This bothers me.”

With gloved hands, Turner pulls the rooster he found Monday from the sack – its delicate, bloodstained head rests limply against its striking iridescent green-and-orange plumage.

Turner points out that the cock’s spurs – the natural protrusions on the bird’s feet – have been filed to a point.

“This is done for no other reason than to fight,” Turner said, explaining that he learned about cockfighting by watching a television program about the illegal sport. “They file the spurs down so they can fit them with razor-sharp metal spurs. When they fight, they tear at the head of the other.”

History

Cockfighting is a centuries-old blood sport that pits roosters bred for aggressiveness in a pit for the purposes of gambling and entertainment.

Proponents do not consider the sport animal cruelty, no more than letting a cat or dog avail its natural instinct to hunt, according to the Web site Gamefowl Facts. They say the roosters are an aggressive breed and will fight naturally if allowed. Cockfighters, the group states, take good care of their birds.

Opponents, such as the Humane Society of the United States, say the gamecocks suffer and often die in the pits.

“The birds cannot escape from the fight, regardless of how exhausted or injured they become,” according to the Society’s Web site. “Common injuries include punctured lungs, broken bones and pierced eyes. Severe injuries occur because the birds’ legs are usually fitted with razor-sharp steel blades or with gaffs, which resemble three-inch-long, curved ice picks. These artificial spurs are designed to puncture and mutilate.”

A fight can last anywhere from several minutes to more than half an hour and usually results in the death of one bird and sometimes both.

The Humane Society contends that the “presence of young children at cockfights is an especially disturbing element” and that “exposure to such brutality can promote insensitivity toward animal suffering and enthusiasm for violence. “

The Society also claims, “law-enforcement officials have documented a strong connection between cockfighting and the distribution of illegal drugs and that drug-enforcement agents often learn about animal fighting operations as a result of narcotics investigations.”

The law on cockfighting

Cockfighting has been outlawed in most of the developed world due to opposition to gambling or animal cruelty or both. All 50 states and the District of Columbia have outlawed the practice, but Louisiana’s ban does not take effect until August, making it the last to ban the sport, according to the Humane Society Web site.

Cockfighting is a felony in 33 states and the District of Columbia, though it is lawful to possess the roosters in most places.

Alabama’s law is weakest. Here, it is legal to own birds for fighting, attend a cockfight and possess implements used in cockfighting. Conviction for cockfighting or running a cockpit is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine ranging from $20 to $50. Florida has the toughest law. There, it is a felony to engage in cockfighting, own birds for fighting, attend a cockfight or possess implements used in cockfighting. Conviction is punishable by a maximum of five years in prison or a $5,000 fine.

Cockfighting is legal in the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam. The Virgin Islands passed a bill in 2006 outlawing artificial spurs but the bill has not been enforced. Cockfighting is also legal in most of Central America, South America, Asia and parts of France.

Forty-three states and the District of Columbia make certain types of animal cruelty a felony. Though Alabama recently made animal cruelty a felony, it only applies to cruelty to cats or dogs, officials said.

In May 2007, President George Bush signed the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act, which criminalizes the transferal of cockfighting implements across state or national borders. The law also increased the penalty for violations of federal animal fighting laws to three years imprisonment upon conviction.

The problem in Alabama is that law-enforcement officials have to catch cockfighters or those keeping a cockpit in the act, said Randy King, chief sheriff’s deputy for the Limestone County Sheriff’s Department.

“We don’t get a whole lot of complaints,” King said. “It’s been several years since we had an arrest on that. There is not a whole lot we can do. If we have a complaint of fighting, we would try to gather information and then try to arrest whomever is running the place.”

He urged Turner to come to the Sheriff’s Department and file a report.

Alabama cockfighters are sometimes charged with keeping a cockpit or for cockfighting, but it is a misdemeanor. Sometimes the loss of gambling revenue and the birds seized in a raid is a greater penalty to those who cockfight.

Officials in Cullman County raided a cockfight in a barn in April 2007 that featured bleacher seating for 150 and a concessions stand. They seized more than $13,000 cash and a computer used to register participants and found spurs and dead roosters. Jason Lee Campbell, 31, of Nauvaoo was charged with keeping a cockpit and cockfighting.

It has been several years since Athens police officers arrested anyone for cockfighting or keeping a cockpit, said Police Capt Marty Bruce.

“It wouldn’t be hard to catch people if you had information about where they were doing it, but getting that information can be difficult,” he said.

What can be done?

The Humane Society suggests those who oppose cockfighting report it to law-enforcement officials and, in states like Alabama where the sport is a misdemeanor and where it is not considered animal cruelty, asking state lawmakers to make it a felony or change the animal cruelty law to include all animals.

“I consider it animal cruelty,” Turner said. “I think it’s wrong.”

        

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