Amazon.com and Animal Fighting |
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June 7, 2007
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| ©The HSUS |
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| Magazines sold by Amazon.com promote cockfighting. |
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June 7, 2007
By Ariana Huemer
The battle between The HSUS and Amazon.com over Amazon.com's sales of animal fighting materials has been brewing for some time.
It began in July 2005, when The HSUS delivered a letter to Amazon.com CEO Jeffrey Bezos informing him of the magazines on his company's website. After alerting Amazon.com to the violations of federal law that the magazines' sales represent, The HSUS requested their removal. The request was met with stony silence.
After giving Amazon.com a year to mull over its complicity in this illegal animal cruelty, The HSUS again contacted the company, this time informing its corporate general counsel of The HSUS' intent to commence a civil action against the company for its illegal sales of The Feathered Warrior and The Gamecock.
The Lawsuit
When Amazon.com again refused to budge, The HSUS filed a lawsuit against Amazon.com, as well as the publishers of The Feathered Warrior and The Gamecock, in District of Columbia Superior Court. Although Amazon.com's sales of these cockfighting magazines is, no doubt, ethically repugnant, the lawsuit is based on purely legal grounds: the federal Animal Welfare Act expressly and specifically prohibits use of the U.S. mail service for "promoting" or "in any other manner furthering" animal fighting.
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| In a typical cockfight, sharp blades are fastened to the chickens' legs to make injuries worse. |
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This time, Amazon.com could no longer ignore the issue. Extensive media coverage of the lawsuit forced Amazon.com's hand, and, in a weak attempt to defend itself, the online retailer cited freedom of speech issues. But the defense is meritless.
First Amendment protections do not protect criminal solicitations for the illegal purchase and sale of fighting animals and weapons, which is the driving purpose of these animal fighting materials.
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Gamecock magazine for sale on Amazon.com March 30, 2007. The screen included a link to The Feathered Warrior. |
Magazines Promote Illegal Activities
If there is any doubt that The Feathered Warrior and The Gamecock exist to promote and further illegal animal fighting, one need only glance through their pages to find hundreds of advertisements each month for cockfighting knives, cockfighting pits and the so-called "gamest cocks alive."
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A Different Story |
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One month after The HSUS pointed out the illegality of their shipments of "gamefowl," Korean Air Lines stopped the shipments. KAL's quick response contrasts sharply with Amazon.com's stonewalling. |
Illustrating this point further, the December 2006 issue of
The Gamecock featured a full-page advertisement for the sale of the "Sally Gap" cockfighting pit in Kentucky. When an HSUS investigator responded to the ad by phone, he was told that this was one of the largest cockfighting pits in the region. The seller also gave exact directions to the pit and assured the investigator that anyone who bought the pit would have nothing to worry about from the local sheriff.
The words of the Sally Gap's owner proved true. In February 2007, just before filing the lawsuit against Amazon.com, an HSUS investigator visited the Sally Gap pit while a cockfighting derby was in full force. Amid dead and dying birds was a crowd of 500 people, including children, calling out bets on which birds would live or die. The roosters had metal weapons attached to their legs for maximum bloody effect.
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From the video "Unleashed." |
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Amazon.com thinks people have a right to profit from videos of dog fights staged solely for the purpose of selling the videos. |
Solicitations for Cruelty
The Sally Gap investigation provides unmistakable proof that Amazon's animal fighting materials are far more than an exchange of ideas; they are active solicitations for violent criminal activity, with the express purpose of promoting and furthering illegal animal fighting. Every time Amazon.com—which is apparently the only online venue for these magazines—sells a subscription to The Feathered Warrior or The Gamecock, it blatantly violates federal law.
Amazon.com's refusal to acknowledge this is perplexing, as it most certainly is aware of the illegality of certain materials. In 2005 and again in 2007, Amazon.com removed a dogfighting video from its website, in recognition of a federal law that prohibits profiting from depictions of animal cruelty. Amazon.com has pulled Nazi propaganda from its website based solely on its offensiveness.
While Mr. Bezos and Amazon.com may not be offended by the spectacle of birds with razors strapped to their legs ripping each other to shreds, one can only hope they will be concerned enough for their own well-being, from a legal standpoint, to stop their complicity in animal fighting cruelty.
What You Can Do
Ask Amazon.com to stop selling all materials devoted to promoting illegal animal fighting.
Ariana Huemer is cruelty case manager for The Humane Society of the United States.
See the Video
Cruelty for Sale Online
Fighting Issues, not Animals
Related Links
Cockfighting Fact Sheet
HSUS Sues Amazon.com over Animal Fighting Videos and Magazines
Amazon.com Faces Lawsuit for Illegal Cockfighting Magazines
The HSUS v. United States Postal Service (Cockfighting magazines)
The HSUS v. Amazon.com, Inc., et al. (Animal fighting materials)
