AL S.B. 175—Cockfighting Penalties
Sponsor: Senator Cam Ward
ASPCA Position: Support
Action Needed: Call your Alabama state senator in Montgomery to ask him/her to support S.B. 175 and bring it to the Senate floor for a vote!
Great news! Thanks in part to your advocacy, this bill was passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee and is now waiting to be scheduled for a vote by the full Senate. But we still need your help—please keep the pressure up and call your state senator right now!
Although Alabama has a strong anti-fighting law when it comes to dogs, the state's cockfighting law is one of the weakest in the nation with the maximum penalty for the crime being a fine of $50. In this day and age, it's almost unbelievable that this irredeemable, intensely cruel blood sport is punished with a mere slap on the wrist. It's time for Alabama to get up to speed with the rest of the country and increase the penalties for engaging in cockfighting and related activities.
Introduced by Senator Cam Ward, Alabama Senate Bill 175 will increase penalties for participating in a cockfight, will add penalties and make it a crime to:
- train cocks to fight
- finance, advertise, promote or sell tickets to a fight
- own, operate or manage a facility where cockfights take place
- possess devices and substances intended to enhance the ability of the cock to fight
- gamble on a cockfight
- attend at a cockfight
- bring a minor to a cockfight
The bill also requires forfeiture of property and all profits directly related to cockfighting operations, and that the party responsible for the cockfight pays for the care of the birds while they are being held.
What You Can Do
We need your help to ensure that this bill placed on the Senate calendar for a floor vote. Please be the voice for the animals of your state and call your state senator in Montgomery, urging him/her to help get S.B. 175 on the Senate calendar and to vote YES!
Find your Alabama state senator's name and phone number here.
Here are some talking points you might find helpful to have handy when making the call:
- As a constituent, I respectfully ask that you support S.B. 175 when it reaches the Senate floor.
- Alabama has one of the weakest anti-cockfighting laws in the nation. The current maximum penalty for engaging in cockfighting is a fine of $50. This fine is viewed by animal fighters merely as a "cost of doing business," and is not effective in deterring animal fighting ventures.
- It is important that those individuals who knowingly participate in these cruel activities be punished appropriately. By increasing penalties for cockfighting, Alabama will be letting violators know that participation in this inhumane activity will be treated as a serious crime.
- Our dog fighting law is strong, and because all forms of animal fighting are serious, I feel that our cockfighting penalties should fall in line with those for dog fighting.
- Cockfighting is not only a cruel and barbaric activity in and of itself: Bouts are almost always hotbeds of other illicit elements such as gambling, money laundering, drugs, firearms, alcohol and gang fights. The young children who often are present are forced to witness both the violence of cockfighting and the encouragement of that violence by the adults around them.
Thank you for your help, Alabama!
