WASHINGTON - The HSUS today praised Kansas Governor Bill Graves
for signing S.B. 69, legislation to prohibit cockfighting,
attending a cockfight as a spectator, permitting cockfighting
on one’s premises, and training a gamecock for fighting.
S.B. 69, based on a bill originally introduced by
Representative Peggy Long (R-76-Madison), removes Kansas from a
list of just six states with no statute specifically addressing
cockfighting. It passed the House and Senate by wide margins.
Governor Graves signed the legislation on May 17.
The Kansas legislature had initially passed
anti-cockfighting provisions with an amendment attached,
opposed by The HSUS and added to the legislation by a one vote
margin in each chamber, which created a loophole in the
cockfighting ban by restricting it to birds with sharp
implements attached to their legs. This restriction
significantly weakened the legislation.
A House-Senate conference committee removed this
restriction, but also removed a ban on the keeping, selling,
and transporting of birds for the purpose of fighting, included
in the original legislation by Representative Long. These
activities are already banned in most other states. The HSUS
urges the Kansas legislature to restore these provisions and
provide felony penalties for cockfighting, parallel to Kansas’
dogfighting law already on the books.
“With the signing of this bill, Kansas has taken a major
step towards preventing illegal cockfighters from using Kansas’
weak statute to shield themselves from the law,” says Wayne
Pacelle, HSUS senior vice president. “This hopefully presages
further legislation to strengthen penalties and close loopholes
that permit this gruesome and barbaric practice to continue in
Kansas.”
This month President Bush signed legislation to ban the
interstate transport of birds for fighting purposes as part of
the Farm Bill, making it illegal for Kansans to transport birds
to fight them in one of the three states (Oklahoma, New Mexico,
and Louisiana) where cockfighting remains legal. That ban will
go into effect in one year. Oklahoma is expected to ban
cockfighting in November when a measure to ban the practice
will appear on the ballot.
“The federal government has also taken action against animal
fighting, and the noose is tightening around the necks of
animal fighters," says Wayne Pacelle, a senior vice president
of The HSUS. “Now that federal law prohibits taking birds out
of Kansas to fight them in other states, Kansans have no excuse
for keeping and selling birds for fighting. The Kansas
legislature should now take the next step, banning possession
of birds for fighting and making cockfighting a felony, to give
law enforcement the tools to crack down on individuals who
would subject animals to such despicable cruelty.”
Though cockfighting has been illegal in Kansas under animal
cruelty laws, the state was one of just six with no law
specifically outlawing the practice, and one of just 13 that
did not prohibit being a spectator at a cockfight. These
loopholes make it extremely difficult to successfully prosecute
cockfighters, or to distinguish fighters from spectators when
cockfighting busts are made. Anderson County Attorney Fred
Campbell failed to prosecute any of the some 40 people arrested
at a July cockfight near Kincaid, blaming such shortcomings in
the law.
Ninety-three Kansas law enforcement organizations -
including the Kansas Sheriff’s Association, the Kansas
Association of Chiefs of Police, the Kansas Peace Officers
Association, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, and the Kansas
Narcotics Officers Association - endorsed Long’s bill.
Cockfighting involves pitting two or more roosters, bred
specially for aggressive characteristics, in a fight to the
death for entertainment and illegal gambling. Birds are
typically drugged to increase endurance and aggression and to
clot their blood, and the birds have razor-sharp steel blades
called slashers, or three-inch long ice pick-like gaffs,
strapped to their legs. When a bird stops fighting, handlers
may suck the blood out of their lungs, and rub substances like
nail polish remover or hot sauce to keep them going. Injuries
commonly include punctured lungs, broken bones, and pierced
eyes. Cockfights are common venues for other illegal
activities, including the use and sale of illegal drugs and
firearms, gambling, and other forms of violence.
