Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Editorial: A cockfighting law with teeth
The General Assembly should pass, and the governor should sign, Griffith's tough measure.
From the RoundTable blog
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Virginia House and Senate panels turned aside pleas from the Virginia Game Fowl Association Monday to exempt its members from a bill that would make cockfighting illegal.
The association's assurance that its member-sponsored cockfights are family-friendly -- no gambling, drinking or minors allowed -- just didn't fly.
Neither did a spokesman's argument that lawmakers should protect clubs dedicated to the blood sport because it dates back to the commonwealth's colonial days. As the bill's sponsor, House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, noted, times have changed. In this instance, they have changed for the better.
Pitting animals against each other for sport is a savage pastime that was largely hidden from all but aficionados before NFL quarterback Michael Vick fell from grace last year over his participation in a dogfighting ring. Vick is serving time in prison. Dogfighting is a felony.
Cockfighting, however, is not even against the law in Virginia unless people do it for money. Then it's a misdemeanor.
When 122 people were arrested last year in a cockfighting raid in Mecklenburg County -- about three-quarters of them from out of state -- most got only a ticket. And most were from North Carolina, where cockfighting is a felony.
Yet even the fact that authorities found boxes of knives and razor-sharp spurs at the scene stirred too little public outrage to help state Sen. Roscoe Reynolds of Henry County push a bill through the General Assembly last year to toughen Virginia's law.
Former Virginia Tech football standout Vick changed the political chemistry when the story later broke about his Bad Newz Kennels in Surry County. The public was intensely interested, and the more people learned about the brutality of organized animal fights, the more they were repulsed.
Griffith's bill would make it easier to enforce Virginia's law against dogfighting. It also would toughen state law governing other types of animal fighting, making it a Class 1 misdemeanor merely to organize or attend such an event -- and a felony to do so when paid admission or gambling is involved.
Having or using devices that help animals inflict injuries on each other also is among several circumstances that would bump the offense up to a felony.
And about time.
Yes, fighting animals for sport has a long history in Virginia -- one it cannot put behind it too soon.
