Although it mainly deals with agricultural policy, the
recently passed Farm Bill, a massive $190 billion piece of
legislation, has major implications for animals. The U.S. House of
Representatives and the Senate had independently passed versions of
the bill that included provisions dealing with puppy mills, the bear
parts trade, sick or injured livestock known as "downed animals,"
and animal fighting. But in the end, due largely to the veiled
machinations of a conference committee, only one of these provisions
survived—the legislation to crack down on cockfighting.
While it was a major disappointment that the other
animal-protection provisions were gutted in conference
committee—which substituted its judgment for that of the full House
and Senate—the final adopted provision against cockfighting marks a
huge advance in The HSUS's national campaign to end this barbaric
practice. This new law should deal a massive blow to the
underground, and surprisingly large and powerful, cockfighting
industry. Combined with our efforts in states to ban cockfighting
and strengthen existing laws, as well as our efforts to train law
enforcement and assist them in cracking down on cockfighting, we are
winning the fight against this despicable industry.
The History
In 1976, Congress enacted legislation to criminalize the
interstate shipment of birds and dogs for fighting. But the
cockfighting lobby—whose adherents legally operated in six states at
the time—worked with its congressional allies to craft a major
loophole that allowed the shipment of birds to states and countries
where cockfighting was still legal. This provision allowed
cockfighters to maintain their gamecocks in states where
cockfighting was illegal, severely complicating the efforts of law
enforcement to make busts.
In 1999, The HSUS began its legislative campaign to close the
federal loophole on interstate shipments. The HSUS turned to Senator
Wayne Allard (R-CO), then the Senate's only veterinarian, to sponsor
the legislation. Just weeks after he introduced the bill, a gunfight
over cockfight gambling debts erupted in Colorado, leaving three men
dead. This tragic incident underlined a well-known fact among law
enforcement officials: Cockfighting involves not just animal
cruelty, but a range of other criminal behaviors, including human
violence, illegal drugs and guns.
In the House, The HSUS approached a frequent
adversary—Representative Collin C. Peterson (D-MN), best known to us
as the co-chairman of the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus—to
introduce the companion bill. While The HSUS had tangled with
Peterson on many issues, including mink industry subsidies and
steel-jawed leghold traps, we had always detected an open-mindedness
in him, and we thought he would make a particularly powerful
champion of anti-cockfighting legislation. He agreed to sponsor the
bill.
Cockfighters mounted a major campaign to thwart our efforts,
hiring two former U.S. Senators—J. Bennett Johnston of Louisiana and
Steve Symms of Idaho, who received hundreds of thousands of dollars
in fees from cockfighting interests—as lobbyists to stymie the
legislation. Coordinated with the grassroots efforts of
cockfighters, the lobbying campaign slowed the progress of our
legislation.
We stepped up our own grassroots lobbying campaign, urging
supporters to contact their elected officials. We enlisted
professional wrestling star Bill Goldberg to visit Capitol Hill to
garner support for the legislation and draw media attention. We also
secured endorsements from more than 100 law-enforcement
organizations, including the statewide sheriffs' associations from
Arkansas to Oregon.
In no time, we had dozens of cosponsors in both chambers. In
fact, by early 2000, we had more than 60 cosponsors in the Senate
alone, including the chairman of the Agriculture Committee, Richard
Lugar (R-IN). But we had one major obstacle, and his name was Trent
Lott (R-MS), the Senate Majority Leader. Lott had answered the call
from Mississippi's cockfighting contingent, and refused to schedule
a vote for the legislation. As a result, it died at the end of the
106th Congress in December 2000.
The Second Attempt
We vowed, however, to pass the legislation in the 107th Congress,
which began work in January 2001. Allard and Peterson reintroduced
the legislation in their respective chambers, and we were again off
and running.
When Senator James Jeffords (I-VT) left the Republican Party and
tipped the balance in the Senate toward the Democrats, it was a
fortunate circumstance for our legislation. Lott was no longer in
control of the Senate agenda, and the new majority leader, Senator
Tom Daschle, was an early original cosponsor of the
anti-cockfighting legislation.
Because Congress had to pass a Farm Bill, to replace the one set
to expire in 2002, we viewed it as a potential vehicle for the
anti-cockfighting legislation. Peterson did not like that idea, so
we enlisted Representatives Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Tom Tancredo
(R-CO) to attach amendments to ban the interstate shipment of birds
for fighting, to ban exports of fighting animals, and to increase
penalties for animal fighting. The amendments passed handily.
The Senate took up its Farm Bill next. The new Agriculture
Committee Chairman, Tom Harkin (D-IA), had co-authored the
anti-cockfighting bill, so we had a particularly well-positioned
champion. He worked with Allard to incorporate the same
anti-cockfighting language passed by the House into the Senate
version of the Farm Bill.
The Conference Committee
When the House and Senate had passed identical animal-fighting
provisions in their respective bills, our work should have been
done. The rules governing conference committees stipulate that
conferees are only supposed to deal with matters where the House and
Senate are in disagreement.
But the House conferees were led by Agriculture Committee
Chairman Larry Combest (R-TX) and ranking Democrat Charles Stenholm
(TX), who fought hard against the animal-protection measures. On
issue after issue, they bested Senate negotiators and gutted
pro-animal provisions in the two bills. In the end, the committee
retained the bans on interstate shipment of gamecocks and export of
fighting animals, but reduced the penalty for animal fighting from a
felony to a misdemeanor and stipulated that the measure not take
effect for one year.
The Future
The fight is not over, though. We have worked with Reps. Robert
Andrews (D-NJ) and Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) to introduce a new bill,
H.R. 5268, to restore felony penalties for animal fighting and
prohibit interstate commerce in cockfighting knives and gaffs. We
don't take "no" for an answer too readily.
At the same time, we continue our vigorous efforts to combat
cockfighting at the state level. Shortly after passage of the Farm
Bill, we scored a significant victory in Kansas with passage of a
new law to prohibit cockfighting, attending a cockfight, training a
gamecock, or allowing a cockfight to take place on one's premises.
The law removes Kansas from a list of just six states with no
statute specifically addressing cockfighting.
Iowa and Indiana have already strengthened their laws this year,
and we are working hard on State Question 687 in Oklahoma, a ballot
initiative appearing on the November ballot that would make that
state the 48th to ban cockfighting and the 27th to adopt
felony-level penalties. And we are supporting a ballot initiative in
Arkansas, also appearing on the November ballot, that will make
cockfighting a felony there, along with other malicious acts of
animal cruelty. We will work to introduce a variety of bills in
states in 2003 against cockfighting, and we will step up our efforts
in Louisiana and New Mexico to ban the activity there.
We are grateful to Senators Allard and Harkin and to
Representatives Blumenauer, Tancredo, and Peterson for their
leadership in shepherding the legislation to enactment.
"Individuals who instigate fights between animals or who attend
these pathetic spectacles should have no legal sanctuary anywhere in
the United States," says Wayne Pacelle, HSUS's senior vice president
and chief lobbyist. "We will be satisfied only when the last
cockfighting pit is closed."
