AR-News: (AL) Huntsville Times Op-ed on Cockfighting

[Political Animal]

http://www.al.com/opinion/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/opinion/107614898449370.xml

 

Time to get tough on cockfighting 

02/07/04

For The Times 
Huntsville Times

In Alabama, a speeding ticket will cost you more 

By WAYNE PACELLE 

At his arena atop Lookout Mountain near Collinsville,
Allen Dabbs, 69, stages knife fights that usually end
in death. 

Dabbs is involved in the bloody business of
cockfighting, and recently, he got a surprise visit
from DeKalb Sheriff Cecil Reed, who raided a derby in
progress and arrested Dabbs for violating the state's
widely ignored anti-cockfighting law. 

Dabbs was charged with a misdemeanor and paid the
maximum $50 fine plus court costs. Had he been charged
with running a cockpit in neighboring Florida, he
could have faced a third-degree felony charge calling
for up to 5 years in prison and a $5,000 fine. 

Cockfighting is banned in 48 states - legal only in
Louisiana and parts of New Mexico - and it's a felony
in 31. Unfortunately, a number of states in the South
have ineffective anti-cockfighting laws. The Humane
Society of the United States rates Alabama's law
against cockfighting as the nation's weakest. 

Recent major cockfighting busts in Georgia, South
Carolina and two in Alabama near Huntsville and Mobile
indicate that law enforcement officials are taking the
matter seriously. But despite the best efforts of
county sheriffs to conduct their duty, they are
hindered in taking a bite out of the industry by the
weak fines and lack of jail time. 

The paltry fines are a minor cost of doing business
for cockfighters who profit from their illegal
gambling and their sale of fighting birds. In short,
if you speed on I-65, you are likely to pay a bigger
fine than if you organize a cockfight in Alabama. 

Magazines promoting cockfighting are packed with
advertisements for fighting roosters, for drugs that
are pumped into the birds to heighten aggression and
clot blood, and for razor-sharp knives and gaffs that
are affixed to their legs to inflict maximum pain and
damage. One of the national monthly cockfighting
magazines, The Gamecock, is loaded with ads from
cockfighting breeders in Alabama. 

In the December 2003 issue of The Gamecock, Ray
Alexander of Lincoln, Alabama boasts that he sells
"The Winningest Fowl in the World." He advertises the
sale of "battle cocks" for "$250 & up" and declares,
"Shipments made worldwide!!!" 

Alexander makes little effort to conceal his conduct.
He is all but daring the federal government to enforce
the law against him. Indeed, if he is shipping "battle
cocks" to Louisiana, Mexico, Guam, or any other
jurisdiction where cockfighting is legal, he is
committing a federal crime. 

The question is, if Alabama bans cockfighting and if
federal law bans shipping fighting birds outside of
the state, why is he raising "battle cocks" at all? In
2002, Congress passed a statute that criminalizes any
interstate or foreign commerce in fighting roosters
and dogs. The federal law provides penalties of up to
one year in jail and up to a $15,000 fine for each
violation. 

It's to crack down on scofflaws like Alexander that
the Congress is now considering new legislation to
further strengthen penalties for violations of the
federal law against interstate traffic in fighting
animals. The new legislation, S. 736 and H.R. 1532 -
which has wide support in Congress - would make it a
federal felony to ship birds in interstate or foreign
commerce. 

In addition to more than 100 law enforcement and
humane groups, mainstream agricultural groups are now
calling for upgraded penalties for animal fighting. 

An outbreak of Exotic Newcastle Disease (END) - the
highly contagious avian disease that kills any
infected bird - occurred in southern California last
fall where the state veterinarian has speculated that
some 50,000 individuals raise fighting birds there. 

The massive network of backyard cockfighting
operations and transport of fighting roosters to and
from the state provided the "perfect storm"
circumstances for its spread. 

In response, federal and state authorities killed more
than 3.8 million birds and spent more than $200
million in taxpayer funds to contain the disease. 

The Alabama Legislature, and the Congress, should
exhibit no tolerance for these vicious exhibitions. 

Wayne Pacelle is a senior vice president of The Humane
Society of the United States, Web site: www.hsus.org. 




Copyright 2004 al.com. All Rights Reserved.


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