September 2005
International animal activists now have an unusual chance to help end animal cruelty and save human lives in a single day of activism.
Participants in the International Animal Fighting Campaign on World Animal Day will have the opportunity to help end the barbaric practice of animal fighting and the long list of ills—like gambling, drug trafficking, firearm sales, physical abuse, and strains of rare diseases—associated with these blood sports.
A Rallying Cry
Humane Society International (HSI) is asking animal welfare groups around the world to support The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) in its effort to lobby the U.S. government to strengthen its current animal fighting laws.
New legislation would classify the foreign and interstate trade of fighting animals and cockfighting paraphernalia as a felony, which carries harsher punishments than their current ranking as misdemeanors.
“By helping the United States pass this legislation, people around the world will help end the transport of fighting animals from the United States and raise awareness of this international problem in hopes that their countries will take on this fight,” said Kelly O’Meara, HSI’s program manager for Asia and Africa.
If passed, the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act, known as bill H.R. 817, would reduce the international supply of fighting animals, thereby reducing the number of animal fights that occur all too often around the world.
Organizations in Indonesia, Japan, Romania, Barbados, and the Philippines are among the 20 groups from different countries that have already committed to holding an event on World Animal Day, October 4, 2005. The groups are gathering to show support of the proposed U.S. law and raise awareness about animal fighting in their own countries.
The Bahamas Humane Society, for example, is presenting a "Stop Animal Fighting" workshop in conjunction with the Nassau Police. The Philippines Animal Welfare Society is holding an animal welfare festival where they will highlight animal fighting issues.
An International Problem
“Dog fighting and cockfighting are veritable growth industries in some countries,” writes HSI Executive Director Neil Trent in his column, Animal Latitudes. “Mongolia, for example, has witnessed a boom in canine fights: Clubs are cropping up in several cities, not to mention one super-sized annual tournament that condemns some 200 innocent dogs to death or injury for the pleasure of a betting public.
“A similar appetite for cockfighting abides throughout Asia, Latin America, and beyond,” says Trent. “In Russia, Mafia types got their hands on top-of-the-line American pit bull terriers and started breeding them for fighting.”
Even in countries that, like the United States, have animal fighting restrictions, these bloody gatherings are cropping up at an alarming rate. The British newspaper The Observer reported in 2001 that the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) was receiving hundreds of reports of illegal animal fights in Britain. The RSPCA said that cockfighting was becoming a major underground industry in several inner-city locations.
Cruelty Disguised as Sport
The claim that animal fighting is a historic past time is no excuse for this modern-day cruelty. Dogs, pitted against one another and often drugged to heighten their aggression, are forced to fight for up to two hours, even after suffering severe injuries. Those that survive the fight itself rarely, if ever, receive medical attention and often die of blood loss, shock, exhaustion, dehydration or infection hours or days after the fight.
Gamecocks often sustain grave injuries and die as a result of the sharp implements designed specifically for cockfights. Razor-sharp steel blades known as slashers and gaffes, which resemble three-inch-long ice picks, are attached to the birds’ legs, causing mortal punctures and mutilations.
The Violent Connection
The over-the-top brutality seen at animal fighting can have a devastating affect on people too.
"Violence begets violence," Laura Maloney, executive director of the Louisiana SPCA, explains. "Research proves that people who abuse animals are more likely to abuse people. In addition, fighting enthusiasts often bring young children to the fights, desensitizing them to violence and teaching them that violence is accepted by society."
Once violence is established as an acceptable behavior, the door to other illegal and dangerous activities is wide open.
U.S. law enforcement officials have documented the strong connection between animal fighting and other crimes, such as gambling and drug trafficking. Animal owners and spectators often exchange thousands of dollars in bets. These large amounts of cash lead to a thriving illegal trade of drugs and firearms.
"Crime doesn't happen in a vacuum," says John Goodwin, deputy manager of Animal Fighting Issues for The HSUS. "When you have violent people betting large sums of money, you're going to have problems. Dogfighting is heavily linked to gambling, drugs, prostitution, gangs, and guns."
The National Sheriff’s Association in the United States recognized this link and, in July 2005, joined the HSUS and 345 other state law officials in endorsing the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act.
Gambling with Their Lives
It’s hard to imagine risking your life to watch these blood sports, but that’s exactly what many spectators do every time they observe a cockfight.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said cockfighting was linked to the introduction and spread of Exotic Newcastle Disease in 2002 and 2003. It cost nearly $200 million in government funds to contain the outbreak of the disease in California and other Southwestern states. The outbreak also prompted the National Chicken Council to break a long-standing silence on the subject; the Council spoke out against animal fighting and endorsed stricter federal legislation against cockfighting.
In Asia, cockfighting is suspected of aiding in the transfer of avian influenza, a lethal bird flu spread from poultry to humans through contact with bird blood, feces and droplets of fluid.
Avian influenza has already killed 45 people in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, and the deaths of several children in Asia from the disease have been linked to their exposure to cockfighting.
The HSUS is appealing to the World Health Organization (WHO) to officially identify cockfighting as a significant means of transmitting avian flu, which the WHO warns has the potential to spread and kill tens of millions of people.
Join the International Animal Fighting Campaign
HSI and dozens of other animal welfare organizations around the globe are preparing awareness events to coincide with World Animal Day on October 4, 2005. For more information on how HSI can help you plan an event and provide resources, please contact hsi@hsihsus.org.
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