AR-News: (LA) Shreveport Times Says Ban Cockfighting

[Political Animal]

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/opinions/html/A3123373-470A-449E-B3B8-2BE161B80171.shtml

 

Opinions 

Cockfighting ban should be adopted

Poll shows Louisianans are ready for legislative
prohibition.

April 7, 2004

Louisiana may or may not be a battleground state for
the U.S. presidency, but it is for the sordid,
incomprehensible world of cockfighting. That's the
blood sport in which roosters are drugged and baited
into a combative state to slash each other for the
amusement and profit of humans.

Louisiana and New Mexico are the only two states in
the union that have not outlawed cockfighting. Today,
a host of law enforcement representatives, state
legislators and activists in the fight against animal
cruelty will blitz South Louisiana where cockfighting
is most prevalent. They will be armed with a new U.S.
Humane Society poll that shows 82 percent of Louisiana
voters support making cockfighting illegal.

Caddo Parish became a focus of anti-cockfighting
efforts recently because pit operators are challenging
a parish prohibition that is not specified in state
law. Caddo has become a lucrative haven for the
"sport" because of its accessibility to Arkansas and
Texas.

Enter state House Bill 681 by New Orleans legislator
Karen Carter that would ban promoting, conducting or
attending an organized cockfight. The law is long
overdue.

The Humane Society is also taking the opportunity to
bait U.S. Rep. Chris John, a Lake Charles Democrat,
who has defended the sport and blocked federal
sanctions against it. John is right that the issue is
best dealt with on a state level, but his opposition
to a ban goes further than a constitutional debate. In
a 2001 news report, John called cockfighting a
"cultural, family-type thing' and on another occasion
said it was a misunderstood industry.

But cruelty is cruelty. And in this case, it also
fosters an off-the-books trade in gambling. 

There is no compelling reason, cultural or otherwise,
why Louisiana should be one of the last bastions of
such a bloody endeavor.

©The Shreveport Times

April 7, 2004


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