Greenville Times says make cockfighting a felony in South Carolina

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20090107/OPINION/901070353/1004/NEWS01

January 7, 2009
Make cockfighting a felony in our state

Cockfighting continues to be a booming business in South Carolina, and the Legislature needs to do something about this illegal blood sport. This should be the year our state lawmakers prove they take cockfighting seriously by making it a felony. It already is in all but about a dozen states, and South Carolina is the only one of those states on the East Coast.

"What we want to do in 2009 is pass a law against cockfighting that brings South Carolina law in line with your neighbors in Georgia and North Carolina," John Goodwin, manager of animal fighting issues with the Humane Society of the United States, said last month in a meeting at The Greenville News. "Otherwise, with a misdemeanor penalty, South Carolina becomes an attractive location for cockfighters who go jurisdiction shopping. They set up cockfighting pits in places with the weakest penalties."

With the help of Goodwin's national animal welfare organization, a number of state organizations, various law enforcement agencies and the Palmetto Family Council, South Carolina legislators have been encouraged, nudged and pushed to take needed action in areas such as dog fighting and hog-dog fighting.

These cruel and inhumane activities do more than create a methodical system for abusing animals and forcing them to fight to the death. Such activities also are notorious for attracting other crimes such as gambling and drug abuse. Goodwin said raids in other states have shown the presence of such organized gangs as the Mexican Mafia and MS 13.

Oran Smith of the Palmetto Family Council came out strong last year for tougher cockfighting penalties because his conservative, family-oriented group recognized that cockfighting was about much more than raising roosters to kill each other. This and other blood sports are surrounded by organized crime, drugs and other problems for which society has to pay. And even worse is that some families consider this such wholesome entertainment that they bring along their children, and those children are then desensitized to violence and other damaging activities early in life.

Cockfighting has powerful protectors in South Carolina. A bill to make it a felony has struggled in the Senate, where one or two senators can block potential legislation.

Just days after Goodwin met with newspapers and other groups last month, 19 people were charged with cockfighting in Anderson County. Deputies seized 37 birds, and a number of birds were found dead, according to a Greenville News story. One woman on the scene was charged with possession of cocaine.

This raid followed multiple busts of fights throughout 2008. In February, 88 people were charged in Anderson County with being in the presence of cockfighting. And a huge raid took place earlier in the year in York County, and 33 individuals were charged with misdemeanors.
Even with slightly tougher laws in South Carolina, most offenders get off with a slap on the wrist. South Carolina needs to make cockfighting a felony, and our state needs to make it a felony to observe a cockfight, too. Otherwise, the small fine of up to $1,000 is considered just a rare fee for the cockfighting participants who occasionally are caught by law enforcement.

Cockfighting is a barbaric practice that has been allowed to masquerade as a quaint blood sport for too long in South Carolina. It needs to be made a felony in 2009 in our state.