Legislation filed to stiffen penalties for cockfighting
WASHINGTON (AP) - Legislation has been filed in Congress to stiffen penalties for cockfighting as animal rights advocates press to outlaw the sport in the only two states where it remains legal -- Louisiana and New Mexico.
The bill would make it a felony, instead of a misdemeanor, to transport fighting birds across state lines and would create a new law banning the transport of blades that are attached to the roosters' legs during bouts.
The bill was co-sponsored by Republican Senator David Vitter, of Metairie, who won his seat by defeating the cockfighters' leading advocate on Capitol Hill, former US Representative Chris John, a Democrat from Crowley.
Wayne Pacelle is president of the Humane Society of the United States. He says that with bipartisan support in both chambers, he's optimistic the bill will pass.
Humane USA, a political action committee affiliated with the Humane Society, launched a 250-thousand dollar campaign against John in last year's Senate race.
The group slammed John's support of the cockfighting industry in TV ads and targeted female voters with 300-thousand mailers.
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HONOLULU A Hawaii state lawmaker
is drawing protests over a bill that would ban the slaughter of dogs and
cats for food. Members of some Asian ethnic groups believe the measure is
aimed at unfounded and racist stereotypes of their
cultures |
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David Crockett never would have
seen it coming. Some lawmakers are saying Tennessee's hunting and fishing
heritage will go the way of the coonskin cap if it isn't protected from
animal-rights activists, so they are proposing a constitutional amendment
making the tradition a basic right.
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AP Wire | 02/21/2005 | Is hunting amendment an attempt to bag
Mississippi voters?
The Biloxi Sun Herald Is hunting amendment an attempt
to bag Mississippi voters? State Rep. Sidney Bondurant says he didn't have
a camouflaged political agenda when he tried to make hunting and fishing a
constitutional right in Mississippi.
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Bird
flu meeting in Vietnam to grapple with a disease now entrenched in
region's poultry
AP via Yahoo! Asia News When scores of chickens began
dying from bird flu on Bui Van Dung's farm in the Mekong Delta last year,
he was forced to destroy his entire flock of 23,000 birds to keep the
disease from spreading. |