WASHINGTON – In the wake of a recent cockfighting raid in Medina County, The Humane Society of the United States today called on Ohio lawmakers to pass legislation that will strengthen their animal fighting laws, currently some of the weakest in the country.
The Medina County Sheriff's Department arrested 20 people, including a juvenile, this past Sunday morning. The property owner, Earl Kanzeg, was charged with running a cockfighting operation and operating a gambling house, both misdemeanors. The spectators, including the male teenager, were arrested on cruelty to animal charges, also misdemeanors. The arrests followed a month-long investigation by the Medina County Sheriff's Office, Medina County Drug Task Force, Cleveland Metroparks rangers and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Ohio's feeble punishments for cockfighting were highlighted by The HSUS last August when the group identified states with the weakest laws punishing this barbaric activity. Ohio came in as having the fourth weakest penalties in the country, with no minimum fine, and jail time not to exceed more than 90 days. Thirty-three other states provide felony-level penalties for cockfighting.
"With such weak penalties, Ohio acts like a magnet for these criminals, drawing cockfighters in from neighboring states where penalties are strong," said John Goodwin, deputy manager of animal fighting issues for The HSUS. "Legislators need to set meaningful penalties that effectively deter people from pitting these birds in fights to the death."
Winners of these derbies often walk away with tens of thousands of dollars in their pockets, so a misdemeanor penalty and the generally weak fines levied fail to deter involvement in this crime.
States that have strong felony penalties for cockfighting generally have seen significant declines in the activity. To adequately address participation in, gambling on, and possessing birds and implements for cockfighting, punishments need to include fines in the thousands of dollars and significant prison time.
Facts:
- Cockfighting is an arranged fight between two specially bred roosters often pumped full of stimulants and other drugs who maim each other until one is declared the winner. Roosters—winners or losers—often die as a result of their injuries from the fight. Cockfighting is also closely linked with crimes such as illicit gambling, drug trafficking and violence, and has recently been cited as a possible risk factor in the spread of avian flu.
- Under current Ohio law, being a participant or a spectator at a cockfight, and possessing fighting birds are all misdemeanors, and possession of implements such as razor-sharp knives and ice-pick like gaffs is still legal.
- The U.S. Congress is deliberating S. 261 and H.R. 137, the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act, which would make it a felony to transport any animal over state lines for an animal fighting venture. The bills have 24 cosponsors in the Senate, and 304 cosponsors in the House of Representatives, including U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown and U.S. Representatives Steve Chabot, Paul Gillmor, David Hobson, Marcy Kaptur, Dennis Kucinich, Steven LaTourette, Deborah Pryce, Ralph Regula, Tim Ryan, Jean Schmidt, Zack Space, Betty Sutton, Patrick Tiberi, and Charlie Wilson.
- Outlawed in 48 states, and punished as a felony in 33, cockfighting remains legal in just New Mexico and Louisiana.
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The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization with nearly 10 million members and constituents. The HSUS is a mainstream voice for animals, with active programs in companion animals, disaster preparedness and response, wildlife and habitat protection, marine mammals, animals in research, equine protection, and farm animal welfare. The HSUS protects all animals through education, investigation, litigation, legislation, advocacy and field work. The nonprofit organization is based in Washington and has field representatives and offices across the country.
