02/25/2008

By LARRY O'DELL  / Associated Press

Cockfighting is a Virginia tradition dating to Colonial times and preserved by gentlemen "cockers" who love their birds, a Senate committee was told Monday.

The senators didn't buy it. They overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to exempt members of the Virginia Gamefowl Breeders Association from legislation making cockfighting a felony, then sent the measure to the Senate floor on a unanimous vote.

The Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee hearing marked the first public appearance in this legislative session by anyone representing the usually shadowy cockfighting community.

"Words cannot express the affection these men have for their roosters," lobbyist Scott Johnson told the committee.

To help make his point, he distributed a photograph of William-Bernard Britton, president of the state gamefowl organization, with his prize 6-year-old brood rooster.

"I think the look on that bird's face and the look on Billy's face says it all," Johnson said.

Animal-rights activists, however, painted a much different picture.

"I've been to cockfights," said John Goodwin, manager of animal-fighting issues for the Humane Society of the United States. "I've seen a rooster cut across the chest so deeply I could see his internal organs move with each breath."

He said Virginia would become a national laughingstock if it allowed such brutality by nine "cockfighting pits" seeking the exemption under the auspices of the gamefowl organization, which claims about 2,000 members statewide.

Under current Virginia law, cockfighting is illegal only if gambling is involved — and even then, it's only a misdemeanor. Animal-rights groups and prosecutors say the weak law has made Virginia a magnet for cockfighters from neighboring states where the blood sport is a felony.

The bill by House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, would put cockfighting on equal footing with dogfighting, which already is a felony in Virginia.

"There is no logic to distinguish between the brutality of fighting cocks and the brutality of fighting dogs," said Robin Starr, head of the Richmond chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "It is all brutality, and it demeans our society and our civilization."

The bill also includes several provisions making it easier for authorities to investigate and prosecute dogfighters. The legislation stems largely from the case of suspended NFL star Michael Vick, who is serving a 23-month prison term for a federal dogfighting conspiracy.

Johnson said cockfighters — or cockers, as they call themselves — have been unfairly tarred by the Vick case. He said his clients do not oppose cracking down on gambling and other illegal activity at cockfights but oppose "criminalizing their sport."

At the organization's behest, Sen. Philip P. Puckett, D-Russell, offered the amendment to exempt the nine cockfighting operations from the legislation. In a letter to state officials, the gamefowl group portrayed the nine as squeaky-clean operations that forbid illegal gambling, drinking, attendance by minors and illegal immigrants, and even swearing.

But Henry County prosecutor Robert L. Bushnell, president of the Virginia Commonwealth's Attorneys Association, said those unsavory activities are common at some of the pits, and Goodwin said it would be naive to think money was not changing hands.

The committee rejected the exemption amendment 11-3.

___

The bill is HB656

On the Net: http://legis.state.va.us