The law on cockfighting

Cockfighting has been outlawed in most of the developed world due to opposition to gambling or animal cruelty or both. All 50 states and the District of Columbia have outlawed the practice, but Louisiana’s ban does not take effect until August, making it the last to ban the sport, according to the Humane Society Web site.

Cockfighting is a felony in 33 states and the District of Columbia, though it is lawful to possess the roosters in most places.

Alabama’s law is weakest. Here, it is legal to own birds for fighting, attend a cockfight and possess implements used in cockfighting. Conviction for cockfighting or running a cockpit is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine ranging from $20 to $50. Florida has the toughest law. There, it is a felony to engage in cockfighting, own birds for fighting, attend a cockfight or possess implements used in cockfighting. Conviction is punishable by a maximum of five years in prison or a $5,000 fine.

Cockfighting is legal in the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam. The Virgin Islands passed a bill in 2006 outlawing artificial spurs but the bill has not been enforced. Cockfighting is also legal in most of Central America, South America, Asia and parts of France.

Forty-three states and the District of Columbia make certain types of animal cruelty a felony. Though Alabama recently made animal cruelty a felony, it only applies to cruelty to cats or dogs, officials said.

In May 2007, President George Bush signed the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act, which criminalizes the transferal of cockfighting implements across state or national borders. The law also increased the penalty for violations of federal animal fighting laws to three years imprisonment upon conviction.

The problem in Alabama is that law-enforcement officials have to catch cockfighters or those keeping a cockpit in the act, said Randy King, chief sheriff’s deputy for the Limestone County Sheriff’s Department.

“We don’t get a whole lot of complaints,” King said. “It’s been several years since we had an arrest on that. There is not a whole lot we can do. If we have a complaint of fighting, we would try to gather information and then try to arrest whomever is running the place.”

He urged Turner to come to the Sheriff’s Department and file a report.

Alabama cockfighters are sometimes charged with keeping a cockpit or for cockfighting, but it is a misdemeanor. Sometimes the loss of gambling revenue and the birds seized in a raid is a greater penalty to those who cockfight.

Officials in Cullman County raided a cockfight in a barn in April 2007 that featured bleacher seating for 150 and a concessions stand. They seized more than $13,000 cash and a computer used to register participants and found spurs and dead roosters. Jason Lee Campbell, 31, of Nauvaoo was charged with keeping a cockpit and cockfighting.

It has been several years since Athens police officers arrested anyone for cockfighting or keeping a cockpit, said Police Capt Marty Bruce.

“It wouldn’t be hard to catch people if you had information about where they were doing it, but getting that information can be difficult,” he said.