Should Chicken Boxing be legal?

[Art Vandelay]

'Chicken Boxing' Not Cockfighting: La. Senator
AP | by MELINDA DESLATTE
Posted: 04/01/2014 6:32 pm EDT

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A Louisiana senator is opposing a bill that would close loopholes in a state cockfighting ban, saying it threatens the legitimate, less bloody sport of "chicken boxing."

The criticism from Republican Sen. Elbert Guillory, of Opelousas, seemed to confuse senate judiciary committee members and stunned New Orleans Sen. J.P. Morrell, a Democrat from New Orleans who proposed the loophole-closing bill.

Chicken boxing?

Guillory represents an area of rural Louisiana that fought to keep cockfighting legal prior to the ban. He said chicken boxing is a sport that uses some of the paraphernalia involved in cockfighting, but he did not specify what paraphernalia that was, or how the sport was any less violent or deadly than cockfighting.

"I have no knowledge whatsoever on chicken boxing so I cannot speak to that," Morrell said. "I have never heard of that. It sounds like something to circumvent cockfighting."

Guillory replied, "There is a legitimate sport known as chicken boxing. It has nothing to do with cockfighting, and it is clear that this bill would interfere, would criminalize that legal enterprise."

Morrell said what Guillory described — two chickens fighting each other — already is banned under the 2008 Louisiana law that criminalized cockfighting.

The two men will carry the fight into the full Senate, after the judiciary committee voted 4-2 to advance Morrell's proposal.

John Goodwin, director of animal cruelty policy for the Humane Society of the United States, said there is no such sport as chicken boxing.

In an email, he said that chicken boxing "is just a creative excuse the cockfighters have come up with to mask their real agenda, which is to maintain the weakest penalties for cockfighting possible."

Cockfighting is a rural tradition in which specially bred roosters, often outfitted with spurs, gaffs or knives, fight to the death while spectators place wagers on the outcome. For years, lawmakers resisted animal rights activists' efforts to outlaw it. They relented in 2007, and the ban took effect a year later, making Louisiana the last state to make the rooster fights illegal.

Morrell said his proposed bill would tighten the state's cockfighting ban, putting it in line with state laws that prohibit dogfighting.

The bill would broaden the definition of "chicken" in the current law to include roosters, game fowl and other birds. It also would criminalize the possession, manufacturing, buying and selling of spurs, gaffs and knives if there is evidence the paraphernalia is being used to fight chickens. The bill also would toughen the penalties for anyone convicted of cockfighting.

"My concern is about the breadth of this bill," Guillory said. "It covers all chickens. I represent a rural area where people raise a lot of chickens, including chickens that are 15th- and 20th-generation fighting birds that are exported legally and legitimately to other nations."

Morrell said it was illegal to raise chickens for fighting.

"These are not fighting chickens," Guillory replied.

Guillory and Sen. Jonathan Perry, R-Kaplan, voted against the bill. Perry said he was concerned about the penalties.

 

[Art Vandelay]

Is chicken boxing legit?
Chris Miller Reporting
Posted: Monday, 07 April 2014 7:48AM

Cockfighting in Louisiana has been illegal since 2008. But apparently, a related sport that fans say isn't bloody or cruel has existed since then: "Chicken boxing." A bill working its way through Baton Rouge has at least one fan of the sport in the legislature worrying its days are numbered.

Sen. J.P. Morrell's bill is scheduled for debate on the Louisiana Senate floor today. Morrell (D-New Orleans) wants to make sure the state's cockfighting law applies to all chickens, but Sen. Elbert Guillory (R-Opelousas) says doing that would effectively make chicken boxing illegal, and he says yes, that is a real sport:

"They can engage in their sport without hurting each other," Guillory explained. "They...put little boxing gloves on them, there's a veterinarian who has to check them before they do battle. They fight in rounds, just like human beings, when they box, so they can get water and cool off."

Guillory admits he may be fighting an uphill battle in trying to stop this.

"I think I'm going to wind up like a chicken that's been in a fighting match," Guillory said. "But so be it."

Guillory says Morrell's bill also seeks to outlaw some fighting paraphernalia that he says could make criminals out of former gamecock breeders and fighters who want to hold on to souvenirs of the days from just last decade that are now a bygone era.

Guillory released the following to the news media in an attempt to better explain chicken boxing:

My Dear Friends,

This is some buzz about the sport of chicken boxing. Thought you'd like to read the basic rules of this sport. See for yourself. No blood, no cruelty, no killing, no injuring. Basically, this sport is safer for the combatants than is the sport of human boxing to humans.

1. No blades shall be permitted in this sport.

2. All matches shall be conducted in rounds of ten minutes duration with three minute breaks between rounds.

3. No match shall consist of more than five rounds of combat.

4. If any combatant turns away from combat the match is over.

5. All combatants shall be matched by weight and height within a two ounce differential.

6. A veterinarian shall certify both combatants ready for combat within 48 hours of the commencement of each match.

7. Every match shall have a veterinarian in attendance who has the full power to safeguard the health of both combatants.

8. Each combatant shall wear standard fowl safety boxing gear.

9. Each participant shall be licensed by the State of Louisiana, 33% of which will be directed to the Pension UAL (unfunded accrued liability-ed.).

 

[Art Vandelay]

LA. SENATE REFUSES TO PROTECT 'CHICKEN BOXING'
By MELINDA DESLATTE
— Apr. 7, 2014 7:59 PM EDT

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The sport of "chicken boxing" doesn't have many friends in the Louisiana Senate.

Senators refused Monday to protect chicken boxing from Louisiana's ban on cockfighting, despite pleas from their colleague, Sen. Elbert Guillory, R-Opelousas.

Guillory said chicken boxing is similar to human kickboxing, with matches that aren't fought to the death and that involve rubber "gloves" to cover the spurs on a chicken's legs to ensure safety.

"There is no blood. There are no knives. There is no cruelty. And there is no abuse," he said, holding two pairs of chicken boxing gloves.

Guillory's defense of chicken boxing came during debate on a bill by Sen. J.P. Morrell, D-New Orleans, that would close loopholes in Louisiana's cockfighting prohibition. Guillory, who represents an area of rural Louisiana that fought to keep cockfighting legal prior to the 2008 ban, said Morrell's bill was so broad it would ban a legitimate sport between chickens.

"I rise on behalf of men and women who are law-abiding citizens ... Don't criminalize a harmless sport," he said.

Morrell said he believes chicken boxing already is illegal under Louisiana's current cockfighting ban.

Senators sided with Morrell and voted 29-8 against Guillory's request to exempt chicken boxing from the loophole-closing bill. Then, they voted 31-7 to send Morrell's bill to the House for consideration.

Cockfighting is a rural tradition in which specially bred roosters, often outfitted with spurs, gaffs or knives, fight to the death while spectators place wagers on the outcome.

For years, lawmakers resisted animal rights activists' efforts to outlaw it. They relented in 2007, and the ban took effect a year later, making Louisiana the last state to make the rooster fights illegal.

Guillory has argued that chicken boxing is a legitimate sport unrelated to cockfighting, while animal rights activists say the sport was devised to circumvent bans on cockfighting.

Morrell said his proposed bill would tighten the state's cockfighting ban, putting it in line with state laws that prohibit dogfighting. He was not pleased that debate on his proposal got sidetracked by discussions of — and jokes about — chicken boxing.

"I'm dealing with a serious issue and to close loopholes that we never intended in the law," he said.

The bill would broaden the definition of "chicken" in the current law to include roosters, game fowl and other birds. It also would criminalize the possession, manufacturing, buying and selling of spurs, gaffs and knives if there is evidence the paraphernalia is being used to fight chickens. The bill also would toughen the penalties for anyone convicted of cockfighting.