A fight is brewing in the Alabama legislature trying to stop another kind of fight. The Humane Society of the United States has been trying since last spring to attack an Alabama non-profit group they claim is actually an organization that promotes illegal cockfighting in Alabama.
Lawmakers are pre-filing a flurry of bills this week to prepare for the next legislative session starting February 7. Among those bills in each chamber are a pair aiming to toughen the laws banning fighting roosters. The Human Society claims "Alabama has the weakest anti-cockfighting law in the country."
They want the law toughened and they want the Alabama Gamefowl Breeders Association shuttered. "The AGBA essentially acts as a front group for people involved in organized criminal activity and it should be shut down," Peter Petersan, director of Animal Protection Litigation for the HSUS said in a press release.
Last spring, the society filed a complaint with the Alabama Attorney General asking he investigate the association, saying it is masquerading as a "non profit" under Alabama law. The HSUS says it has documents showing how the association profits from illegal cockfights.
The Association created in 1978 says on its website, "The AGBA was founded to promote the breeding of gamefowl to their full potential as the "ultimate" in spirit and courage. To serve as a central, unifying organization for Alabamains having a love for gamefowl and to offer them the opportunity for shared friendships and interest. To perpetuate and preseve the gamecock in it's present state of splendor."
Currently Alabama has at least two laws on the books aimed at controlling cockfighting.
Section 13A-12-4 of the Alabama Code says "Any person who keeps a cockpit or who in any public place fights cocks shall, on conviction, be fined not less than $20.00 nor more than $50.00." A cockpit is where the fights are held. The new bill would increase the penalty to a $6,000 fine and a possible year in jail.
Section 3-1-20 of the Alabama Code reads, "Any person who shall sell or buy any domestic animal or domestic fowl between the hours of sunset and sunrise shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be fined not less than $50.00 nor more than $500.00 and may also be sentenced to hard labor for the county for a period not exceeding one year". Since most cockfights went on at night and many roosters are bought and sold at the events, the measure outlawed many rooster sales at the fights, to discourage them.
As distasteful as cockfighting might be, some groups question if lawmakers have their priorities in the right place.
The Alabama Family Rights Association is criticizing the bills and they've issued a challenge, "Why are we not reading stories published by the AP about our Legislators working to saferguard fit parents and children's rights to First Amendment freedom of associations?" ALFRA is pushing the "Alabama Children's Family Act" to safeguard the Constitutional Rights of children to a relationship "with each fit parent, which is consistent to provisions of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution."
House Republican Representative Jim Barton, of Mobile, is sponsoring the bill in his chamber. Alabaster Republican Senator Cam Ward is sponsoring the sister legislation in the Senate.
The Humane Society says the current law has not stopped the fights. They report a cockfighting pit in Chilton County was raided by the county sheriff’s department last year. They also allege the growers association is linked to ongoing cockfighting, including a fundraiser they say will happen during a planned fight in Citronelle, Alabama on Feb. 11.
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