Congressman
Elton Gallegly
Serving the 24th District of California

http://www.house.gov/gallegly/media/media2007/media2007.htm

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 3, 2007

 Contact: Tom Pfeifer
(202) 225-5811

Gallegly to Introduce Animal Fighting Bill

WASHINGTON, DC—Congressman Elton Gallegly (R-Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties) will introduce on Thursday, the first day of the 110th Congress, a bill making violations of federal animal fighting law a felony punishable by up to three years in prison, make it a felony to transport an animal across state or international borders for the purpose of animal fighting, and prohibit the interstate and foreign commerce in knives and gaffs designed for use in cockfighting.

“Animal fighting is a brutal, inhumane practice,” Gallegly said. “Criminals engage in the activity to launder money. It is closely tied to the drug trade. Children are endangered from dogs trained to fight in their homes. And cockfighting has been tied to the spread of bird flu.”

The bill is similar to one introduced by Congressman Mark Green of Wisconsin in 2005. Gallegly was an original cosponsor of Green�s bill and was responsible for gathering about 200 of the 324 cosponsors on the bill.

Cockfighting has been identified as the major contributor of the spread of avian flu throughout Thailand and other parts of Asia, where the strain originated. Many of the humans who contracted avian flu and died from it contracted it from fighting birds. Experts say it’s just a matter of time before it reaches our shores.

Roosters smuggled into the United States for the express purpose of cockfighting could likely carry the disease.

It wouldn’t be the first time disease entered the U.S. with contraband roosters. Fighting roosters smuggled into California from Mexico caused the 2002-2003 outbreak of exotic Newcastle disease. Newcastle cost U.S. taxpayers $200 million to eradicate. It cost the poultry industry millions more in lost overseas exports as it spread across the southwestern United States.

Avian flu could be much worse. The world is expecting a pandemic among the human race from the predicted mutation of one particular strain, dubbed H5N1, with deaths in the United States estimated as high as 1.9 million.