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ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS

MONTH: May 2007

Congress passes ban on interstate transport of animals for fighting

 

WASHINGTON D.C.--The U.S. Senate on April 10, 2007 unanimously passed the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act, H.R. 137, approved by the House of Representatives on March 25, 368-39. Sent to the White House to be signed into law, the Act creates a felony penalty for transporting animals across state lines--including foreign export-- to be used in fights.

Cockfighters and breeders mobilized to urge President George W. Bush to veto H.R. 137, but Humane Society of the U.S. president Wayne Pacelle was unconcerned. "We have it on good word that it will be signed," Pacelle told ANIMAL PEOPLE.

The Act is expected to help in apprehending and prosecuting dogfighters and cockfighters. Dogfighting is already illegal in all 50 states. Cockfighting is illegal in 49 states plus nine of the 64 parishes of Louisiana, the last state to allow it.

However, enforcing laws against animal fighting usually requires catching the offenders in the act of staging a fight. The Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act enables law enforcement to intercept participants in high-stakes dogfights and cockfights on their way to events, before any fighting actually occurs.

The most frequent application of the Act is expected to be in cases where law enforcement personnel stop vehicles for routine traffic violations or suspicion of intoxicated drivers, and discover suspected fighting dogs, gamecocks, and/or animal fighting paraphernalia in the vehicles.

"The passage of the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act is expected to impact dogfighting and cockfighting in the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands," Pegasus Foundation director Anne Ostberg told fellow members of the Caribbean Animal Welfare online forum.

It will also enable U.S. agencies to help thwart a growing commerce in exporting fighting dogs to parts of the world where dogfighting was until recently almost unknown.

Interstate involvement in animal fighting was illustrated especially clearly on April 24, 2007, while the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act awaited White House attention.

As the ANIMAL PEOPLE deadline loomed, Louisiana SPCA executive director Laura Maloney e-mailed that a multi-agency raid on suspected dogfighters had seized 42 pit bull terriers "with extensive scarring and some with fresh wounds" from a site in Pass Christian, Mississippi, and had impounded six more dogs from a location in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana.

"Five dead dogs will be exhumed for evaluation in Mississippi, with multiple burial locations remaining on the property. In addition to the scarred dogs," Maloney added, "the sites are loaded with fighting paraphernalia, including scales for weighing before a match, breed stands used to mate aggressive dogs, treadmills used to prepare dogs for matches, copies of the underground dogfighting magazine Sporting Dog Journal and dogfighting-related books, and extensive records noting successes and losses in dogfights."

Other participating agencies, Maloney said, included the St. Charles Parish Humane Society and animal control department, and the Humane Society of South Mississippi. The American SPCA sent
forensic veterinarian Melinda Merck to document the medical condition of the animals.

"The Harrison County Sheriff's Department is charging the Mississippi accused with felony dogfighting," Maloney reported, adding that felony charges were under consideration in St. Bernard Parish.

Interstate involvement in cockfighting was demonstrated on March 30, 2007, when Louisiana state police raided the Sunrise Game Club near Logansport in north Louisiana and the Milk Dairy Game Club in Tickfaw, 50 miles northwest of New Orleans. The cockfighting clubs were located in Sabine and DeSoto parishes, respectively, two of those that prohibit cockfights.

"Sunrise Game Club owner James Butler, 38, of Martinsville, Texas, was led away in handcuffs. He was booked into the DeSoto Parish Detention Center on charges of illegal gambling, contributing to the delinquency of juveniles, racketeering, and money laundering," reported Vickie Wellborn of the Shreveport Times.

Texas authorities simultaneously conducted a raid of Butler's home, Louisiana state police spokesperson Doug Pierrelee said.

Two other cockfight participants "were booked into jail on drug charges after authorities found methamphetamine and marijuana in their possession," Wellborn wrote.

"Five men were cited for contributing to the delinquency of juveniles for allegedly having children at the fight with them," added Associated Press.

Sergeant Steve Rachal of the Louisiana state police gaming division told Wellborn that undercover investigators had monitored the club for almost a year, observing gambling turnover of up to $50,000 on Friday and Saturday nights. Several other recent cockfighting raids have exposed significant interstate involvement. The Kentucky State Police in February 2007 promised to investigate the Sally Gap Game Club in Whitley County, after four HSUS investigators produced videotape documenting an all-day series of fights attended by about 400 people. HSUS deputy manager of animal fighting issues John Goodwin told Lexington Herald-Leader staff writer Bill Estep that participants came from as far as Michigan and South Carolina.

"The investigators estimated that hundreds of thousands of dollars in entry fees and bets changed hands," wrote Estep.

Two weeks earlier, sheriff's deputies arrested 122 people at a cockfight in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, and Department of Homeland Security officers arrested 22 more, "including suspected gang members who are facing deportation," Mecklenburg County Sheriff Danny Fox told reporters. About three-fourths of the arrestees gave North Carolina addresses.

"The culmination of a seven-month investigation, the raid included about 130 local, state and federal law-enforcement officials, and 25 animal control officers," reported Richmond Times-Dispatch staff writer Jamie Ruff. "Animal control officials seized 126 birds," Ruff said.

Louisiana agriculture commissioner Bob Odom on April 16, 2007 told Doug Simpson of Associated Press that he is now willing to endorse a phased ban of cockfighting. "In years past, Odom has argued against outlawing cockfighting," Simpson recalled, "saying a ban would merely drive the practice underground, making state inspections of gamecocks impossible and creating a greater chance that poultry diseases will spread.

"Odom, a Democrat running for re-election, is in his seventh term as chief of the state agriculture department," Simpson continued. "Odom's support of a phase-out ban puts him at odds with Representative Mike Strain, who is running against Odom for the post. Strain, a Republican, has introduced legislation to ban cockfighting immediately."

A similar bill has been introduced by Senator Art Lentini (R-Metairie), who has pushed bills to ban cockfighting before. This year will be Lentini's last opportunity to win a cockfighting ban, due to term limits.