By Amanda Costikyan Jones
WASHINGTON – A Senate proposal to ban interstate transport of birds for cockfights could be felt in Maryland, where the birds are still bred even though cockfighting is outlawed.
“People (who breed fighting birds) in Maryland can’t fight in Maryland, but they can raise them and take them other places,” said Ann Church of the Humane Society of the United States.
She said the bill proposed by Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., “would close that loophole.”
But Sandy Johnson, administrative director of the United Gamefowl Breeders Association, said she was shocked by the proposal.
“We do not promote cockfighting, but our people sell a lot of game fowl,” Johnson said. “They sell them to the legal states, they sell them to ship out of the country, and (Allard’s proposal) would have a great financial impact on a lot of our members.”
Cockfighting is legal in Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico. Johnson said it is “sort of quasi-legal” in Virginia, which only outlaws gambling, prizes and admission fees associated with cockfights.
“There are facilities there, and people from Maryland go into Virginia to sell their birds,” she said.
Possession of fighting birds is not prohibited in Maryland, but cockfighting is a misdemeanor in the state. Nineteen states have made it a felony.
Robert Marrero of Elkton raises fighting cocks as a hobby and said he could probably name “close to a dozen” other Maryland breeders.
While Marrero said he does not have personal knowledge of cockfights in Maryland, he conceded that “they’re probably still having them.
“I know a lot of people go out of state into Virginia,” for cockfights, he said.
Marrero, who said he sometimes buys birds from Virginia and Kentucky, expressed concern that the proposal “takes the freedom away from the individual.
“You have a freedom to go from state to state for commerce with everything else,” he said. “To me, it’s a law that’s being pushed and passed by a bunch of fanatics.”
The Humane Society says cockfighting is exceptionally cruel because the birds are fitted with steel knives on their legs and are unable to escape during the fights.
But Marrero, who describes himself as an animal lover and opponent of dogfighting, disputed Humane Society claims that the birds are bred for aggression and sometimes drugged. He said the birds fight “naturally. It’s not forced.”
He called federal attempts to restrict the fights “pretty lame.
“There’s so many other things going on in this world; why would you (lawmakers) bother?” he asked. “It’s basically a poor man’s hobby.”
But the Humane Society argues that it is more sinister than that, saying there are frequently illegal drugs and firearms present at the fights.
And there are often children at the fights, said Eric Sakach, a Humane Society official who said he has infiltrated hundreds of illegal cockfights across the country.
“In light of what we know about the connection between animal abuse and violence toward people, this is a very worrisome issue,” he said.
Allard was scheduled to introduce the bill this week.
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