Letter to the Editor

LETTERS: PROPOSITION A WOULD BAN COCKFIGHTS

This article comes from our electronic archive and has not been reviewed. It may contain glitches.

To the editor:

Cockfighting, animal baiting and bear wrestling are cruel activities that should be prohibited.

In cockfights, specially bred roosters are trained to fight each other. The birds are armed with 3-inch-long gaffs, given stimulants to increase their aggressiveness and placed in a pit to fight. During these fights, the birds suffer serious, often fatal, injuries.

Baiting is the archaic practice of tethering a large animal, usually a bear or bull, and releasing a pack of dogs to attack it. The constrained animal cannot get away or adequately defend itself. It is injured and killed in these contests.

In bear wrestling, late-night barrooms set the scene for challenges between paying customers and declawed and defanged bears.

Watching cockfights desensitizes children to violence and teaches them that mistreatment of animals is acceptable. Young children are allowed legally to attend animal fighting events. As a result, children witness firsthand the mutilation and killing of animals merely for amusement's sake. The message they receive is that violence is acceptable and the lives of animals are disposable.

Missouri is one of only five states left in the country that still allow cockfighting. Forty-five states and the District of Columbia prohibit cockfighting. In Missouri, cockfighting and animal baiting were illegal for more than 100 years. A statute banning these activities had been enacted in 1873, but a cockfighter challenged that law in 1984. The courts found a portion of the statute vague. Unfortunately, the entire law was invalidated. Since then, humane societies, law enforcement and animal-control officers have been trying to get a more precise statute enacted through the Legislature, but the cockfighters have blocked it. Proposition A on the Nov. 3 ballot would restore protections that were a tradition in Missouri for more than a century.

Cockfights are conducted in secrecy because of the cruelty, gambling and other illicit activities that take place. Illegal gambling is the norm at these events. Aside from the enjoyment of watching animals injure and kill each other, thousands of dollars exchange hands when spectators wager large sums on their favorite birds. Firearms and other weapons can often be found at these events because of the large amounts of money.

Please support Proposition A, the first humane animal legislation to be put before Missouri voters.

BARBARA GRAY, Campaign Manager

Missourians Against Cockfighting

St. Louis