Five States with Laughable Cockfighting Laws

August 11, 2006

©The HSUS

The bodies of dead fighting birds fill trash cans at cockfighting pits.

Cockfighting is partly legal in two states—New Mexico and Louisiana—but it remains rampant throughout the country because the penalties in many states for strapping knives to the legs of birds and forcing them to fight to the death can net the offender less than the cost of a speeding ticket.

Take Alabama. Its paltry, $50 maximum fine for cockfighters has earned it the dubious distinction of having the nation's weakest cockfighting law. Its fellow Southern states of Virginia and Mississippi, which rank second and third respectively, have similarly laughable laws for cockfighting. In Virginia, cockfighting is perfectly legal, unless it can be proved that money changed hands, while in Mississippi a person can own fighting cocks and attend illegal fights with impunity.

But the states whose weak laws give cockfighting a wink and nod are not limited to the South. Ohio and West Virginia give these Southern states a run for their money. In Ohio, which ranks as having the fourth-weakest cockfighting laws in the nation, cockfighting convicts face a maximum 90-day jail term. And in West Virginia, the state pegged as having the fifth-weakest cockfighting laws, the law allows convicted cockfighters off the hook with a $300 fine—hardly a deterrent when you consider that a single tournament can net participants easily 20 times that amount.

Residents of these five states should take note, because in allowing such lax laws for cockfighting to stand, their legislators have created a haven for the illegal bloodsport. Every weekend, cockfighters from surrounding states (32 of which make cockfighting a felony) flock to Alabama, Virginia, Mississippi, Ohio and West Virginia, as well as other states with weak cockfighting laws, to stage their deadly duels.

Along with the bloodshed of innocent animals, these cockfighters bring with them a host of other unsavory, illegal activities. Law enforcement raids on cockfighting pits invariably find gambling, illicit drugs and illegal firearms alongside the piles of bloody, battered birds. Even worse, children are often present at these events, becoming inculcated into a culture of violence that desensitizes them to suffering and makes them good candidates to continue the cruelty into the next generation.

People who do not support this kind of community degradation can look towards the states of Michigan, Florida and Colorado. In these three states, where the penalties for cockfighting are among the toughest in the nation, cockfighting has been on a steady decline. Here's to hoping that legislators in the states with the weakest cockfighting states take a cue from these tougher-minded states and pass stricter cockfighting laws, for the sake of both animals and people.

See the Video

Federal Animal Fighting Legislation

Louisiana Cockfighting

Related Links

Cockfighting Fact Sheet