The Humane Society of the United States is pushing a bill in the coming session of the state Legislature that would increase the penalty for cockfighting in Alabama up to a $6,000 fine and as much as a year in prison.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jim Barton, R-Mobile, and Sen. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, is designed to bring Alabama in line with other states that have heavy penalties for cockfighting.
This page supports the bill and applauds the efforts of these legislators.
Cockfighting is a cruel sport that brings pain to animals for the pleasure of humans. It also promotes illegal gambling. There is no reason for the state to tolerate it.
However, the Alabama Gamefowl Breeders Association opposes the bill. It has hired Carbon Hill attorney Ken Guin to represent its members. Putting emphasis on the economic side of the issue, Guin told the Associated Press that breeding game birds for show and for sale to people in other states is “a huge industry with a tremendous economic impact in Alabama.”
Guin, if you do not know, is a former state representative with, one would expect, close ties to legislators still in office — excellent qualifications for someone to lobby for a cause.
But how would increased penalties on already illegal cockfighting affect this “industry?” The bill does not outlaw game-bird breeding. Breeders can still breed for show and sale.
That being the case, it would seem that the main reason for opposing this legislation is to keep penalties on cockfighting insignificantly low so that breeders will have an in-state market for their birds, a market that is not supposed to exist because cockfighting is against the law.
If the breeders are indeed breeding birds for show and sale — and not for a blood sport — under this law they can continue to breed, show and sell without fear of penalty.
However, by opposing this legislation, the breeders seem to be saying that they have reason to fear its consequences. All the more reason for the legislation to pass.
