AR-News: More Louisiana Media on Animal Fighting

[Political Animal]

More From The Times Picayune
 
 
 



Hog-dog rodeo? Them's fightin' words
Sunday, May 02, 2004 

James Gill

It doesn't make much sense, as state Rep. Charlie
DeWitt, D-Lecompte, argued last week, to ban hog-dog
"rodeos" and leave cockfighting alone. 

When the House took up a bill that would make it
illegal to set pit bulls on penned wild pigs, DeWitt
up and proposed an amendment that would have also made
it illegal to set rooster on rooster in a pit. 

 
 
 
  
  
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 


If Louisiana fears that legalized animal cruelty
tarnishes its reputation, DeWitt declared, then we
should ban all forms of it. His amendment failed,
however, because, although its logic was irrefutable,
it was thoroughly disingenuous. Figuring that the
Legislature is not about to ban cockfighting, DeWitt
was trying to amend the bill to death. 

It didn't work. The House defeated his cockfighting
amendment and approved the hog-dog ban. 

DeWitt and other country boys who defend hog-dogging
and cockfighting as a hallowed part of their precious
"culture" evidently do not believe they inflict much
damage on Louisiana's reputation and, therefore,
economy. 

They attract more attention than they might suspect.
Newspapers in Canada, Britain and New Zealand, for
instance, reported the hog-dog debate last week and
quoted the bill's sponsor, Rep. Warren Triche,
D-Thibodaux, describing the rodeos as "violent, cruel,
inhumane, barbaric and damn well sadistic." 

The same might well be said of cockfighting, which
would be outlawed under a bill filed by Rep. Karen
Carter, D-New Orleans. The bill has been assigned to
the Agriculture Committee, and, if form is any guide,
will never be seen again. Indeed, had Triche's bill
been referred to Agriculture, as hog-dogging
apologists wanted, it too would have died there. 

Anti-cockfighting bills have long been an annual
ritual and an exercise in futility. For some reason
legislators from such places as Sunset will decline to
send a bill to the House floor even after being
assured by a metropolitan colleague that cockfighting
is an abomination that creates the impression
Louisiana is a Neanderthal outpost. 

If the Senate goes along with the hog-dog ban, it
will, as DeWitt mischievously suggested, be hard to
see why cockfighting should be spared. Indeed,
hog-dogging might be regarded as less offensive, if we
are to believe proponents who claim that it serves a
useful purpose as training for the hunt. In a rodeo,
the dog will pin down the hog by clamping on the ears
and head until handlers intervene to force its jaws
apart. The hog will generally survive, albeit with the
odd piece missing. 

Wild hogs are a prolific and serious pest. They
undermine levees, destroy wetlands, kill young
livestock and can also be a threat to people.
Descended from escaped colonial pigs that interbred in
the 20th century with Russian boar released into the
wild, they can weigh as much as 400 pounds. Farmers
and wildlife managers want them dead, and they also
make good eating, as yours truly can attest, having
been on a few hunts in eastern New Orleans, where
Catahoula hounds chase and bay up the pig before the
pit bull is brought in for the coup de grace. 

A fighting rooster, on the other hand, is neither a
threat to the environment nor a candidate to wind up
on a Popeye's menu. The mortality rates among fighting
roosters, thanks to the gaffs and knives attached to
their spurs, are very high and the only point is to
see which combatant exhibits the greater heart and
skill. Neither hog-dogging nor cockfighting is for the
squeamish or for anyone offended by betting. 

Rep. Taylor Townsend, D-Natchitoches, opposed the
Triche bill on grounds that animal cruelty laws
already make hog-dogging illegal, although opinions
vary on that. Sheriff Talmadge Bunch in the
hog-dogging stronghold of East Feliciana Parish finds
nothing wrong with the fights or with rendering a boar
defenseless by cutting off its tusks. 

Cockfights are not covered by Louisiana's animal
cruelty laws, which exclude birds save for the
Psittaciformes and the Passeriformes. 

In case you do not know what that means, be assured
that you had better not try to sell tickets for a
parakeet or canary fight. Stick to the roosters and
our reputation will be safe. 

. . . . . . . 

James Gill is a staff writer. He can be reached at
(504) 826-3318 or at jgill at timespicayune.com. 

More From The Times Picayune
 
 
 

 

Letters to the editor

Times Picayune

A tragic commentary on the culture
Saturday, May 01, 2004 

Re: "Cruelty or culture?" Page 1, April 25. 

So, rural Louisiana proponents of hog dog trials
consider the event to be part of their culture. This
is a sad commentary on our state. Other Louisianians
feel the same way about cockfighting, which is another
embarrassment to this state. I would like to point out
that in ancient Rome, having men fight to the death,
either with each other or with wild animals, was also
part of culture. Maybe we could substitute our
Superdome for the Roman Colosseum and hold hog dog
trials there. 

 
 
 
  
  
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 


In history there have been many activities accepted by
the culture which would now be considered barbaric.
Both cockfighting and hog-dog trials are these kinds
of activities. 

It is reported that hogs are very intelligent animals,
which is more than can be said of those who enjoy
watching animals be hurt or killed and who make money
on such seedy and pitiful events. 

Lois Alworth 

New Orleans 

April 28. 2004 12:50PM 

Daily Comet (Thibodaux, Louisiana)

Editorial

Cruelty is not culture

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

To many residents of urban centers around Louisiana,
the mere thought of setting vicious dogs on
defenseless hogs seems senseless and cruel. 

And it is. 

The problem with it is that, although it is a practice
that is probably prohibited under present anti-animal
cruelty laws, some district attorneys are casting a
blind eye on the burgeoning practice of hog dog
events. 

The central idea of the practice is to take a hog,
wild or otherwise, cut its tusks off and get dogs to
attack the now-defenseless animal. 

Why would someone do such a thing? The sad answer is
that there are people who enjoy watching these events.


But that will end if state Rep. Warren Triche,
D-Chackbay, gets his way. 

Triche has proposed explicitly outlawing the practice
and his bill passed in the state House Tuesday by a
suitably handy margin. It moves now to the Senate. 

Some rural lawmakers, such as Rep. Troy Hebert,
D-Jeanerette, attacked Triche’s proposal as an
unwarranted attack on a way of life. The sad thing
about that argument is that it takes for granted a
culture of cruelty and accepts it as central to our
state’s character. 

Many Louisiana residents, though, would be
appropriately shocked to see animals being subjected
to such treatment. 

It’s not sport or entertainment or, least of all,
culture to kill and maim defenseless animals. It is
simply cruel. It’s good to see Triche and his
colleagues have set about fixing a glaring need in the
state law. 

And speaking of cruelty masquerading as “culture,”
another anti-cruelty act in the Legislature this year
would outlaw the blood practice of cockfighting. 

Although some legislators have defended cockfighting,
like hog torture, as a part of our culture, that
argument holds no water. 


 


The present attempt to finally outlaw cockfighting, if
successful, would bring Louisiana into line with 48
other states, where people have decided there are more
worthwhile pursuits than animal torture. 

We hope the Legislature has the courage of its
convictions and that Gov. Blanco will sign into law
these bills that will lead to more humane treatment
for Louisiana’s animals. 

Editorials represent the opinions of this newspaper
and not of any one individual. As such, editorials are
unsigned. Signed columns represent the individual
opinion of the columnist and not necessarily of this
newspaper.

 

 

The Times Picayune

Letters To The Editor


Does ignorance merit a voice?
Monday, April 26, 2004 

While I was glad to see that The Times-Picayune felt
that the subject of cruelty to animals was fit for the
front page, I was appalled that the story seemed to
pose the question of whether cruelty to animals is
acceptable. 

Clearly, there are many who think that it is -- those
who engage in and watch the heinous acts of dog
fighting, hog-dog rodeos, cockfighting and other
"blood sports." 

But those who condone something because they have not
been taught better, or because they are without
compassion or a conscience, do not always deserve a
voice. 

When you report on a murder, do you report it in such
a way that the reader gets to decide for himself
whether murder is acceptable? 

Obviously, there is a difference in that murder is
illegal and these sick "sports" are not illegal in all
places. Nevertheless, treating this as an open debate
is irresponsible. 

This is not a question of the need for journalistic
objectivity. It is a moral obligation that we all
share to create a world in which torture is not
tolerated in any form. 

Lee Cutrone 

New Orleans 

 

And they call this a sport?
Monday, April 26, 2004 

Why can't these country boys come up with something
fun to do in the evenings with their families that
wouldn't involve torture and bloodshed? Ever heard of
Little League? 

Catherine Davis 

Slidell 

 




	
		
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