Posted on 07/06/2003 11:18:48 AM PDT by Brian S
In bid to stop disease, USDA pays owners of fighting cocks
Sunday, July 6, 2003
©2003 Associated Press
URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/07/06/state1258EDT0016.DTL
(07-06) 09:58 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --
In its rush to stop a disease that was ravaging California's poultry industry, the federal government paid about $11.5 million to compensate owners of so-called backyard birds, including thousands believed to be fighting cocks.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture spent more than $22.3 million from October to May to compensate chicken ranchers whose birds had to be destroyed to eradicate Exotic Newcastle Disease.
Records obtained by The Associated Press under the federal Freedom of Information Act show that the government killed 3.7 million commercial birds, virtually all of them egg-laying chickens. Their owners received an average of $2.89 a bird.
The other 144,000 birds ordered killed were characterized mainly as game fowl, including thousands of roosters and brood cocks that agriculture officials believe were used for fighting, a backroom sport that is illegal almost everywhere in the United States. For these birds, the government paid an average of $79.31 each, with some roosters and brood cocks valued as high as $500, according to the records.
The payments are drawing criticism from the Humane Society and lawmakers who have sought to clamp down on cockfighting across the nation.
"I think it's inappropriate to be using taxpayer dollars to be paying for cockfighting birds or to be supporting the cockfighting industry in any way," said Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., who also is a veterinarian.
Allard was the prime sponsor of a measure that took effect in May to strengthen a federal law designed to prevent shipment of fighting birds between states.
Cockfighting is illegal almost everywhere in the United States, but agriculture officials said they had no qualms about compensating people who, they suspect, owned fighting birds.
U.S. and California officials who have been working together to eradicate Exotic Newcastle Disease in eight Southern California counties said their sole mission is to stop it.
"The whole idea of paying compensation is to give people incentive to participate in the program," Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said.
By some estimates, there are 50,000 illegal cockfighting locations in California alone, where the spectacle is especially important in some immigrant communities. Cockfighting remains legal in Louisiana, parts of New Mexico and Oklahoma, where a voter-approved ban is being challenged in state court.
While cockfighting is illegal in California, owning game cocks is not, said Steve Lyle, a spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
"By law, we're required to pay any individual who owns a bird that is taken by the task force, irrespective of what the bird is used for," Lyle said.
It also can be hard to distinguish a game cock used in animal exhibitions and competitions from one bred for fighting.
Defenders of the centuries-old combat complain that the people who stage cock fights are misunderstood.
"People say they shouldn't be paying indemnification, but I know of certain large breeders in the quarantine area who breed game fowl and export them to areas where it's legal," said Francine Bradley, a poultry expert at the University of California, Davis. "They have employees, buy pharmaceuticals, contribute to the local economy."
The new federal law bans breeders from shipping fighting cocks even to states where cockfighting is legal. Violation is a misdemeanor.
Bradley said these owners contacted authorities when they saw outbreaks of Newcastle in their flocks.
"If they wanted to, they could have moved these birds in the dark of night in the backs of vans outside the quarantine area," Bradley said.
Just how the latest outbreak of Newcastle began last fall remains a mystery, but officials said one theory is that fighting cocks were responsible.
"The fighting-bird theory is a real one because that activity involves the movement of birds and because it's such a contagious disease" said Leticia Rico, spokeswoman for the state-federal task force created to fight the Newcastle outbreak.
The disease is caused by a virus found in the droppings, breath and eggs of birds. An infected bird can pass the disease to others in their proximity. Newcastle can wipe out entire flocks of poultry but is harmless to humans.
Containing the disease is especially hard in California's mild climate because many people keep birds in their back yards.
The outbreak appears to be on the wane. The most recent case was found in a back yard in Los Angeles County on May 31, Rico said.
When it was at its peak in late fall and again last winter, the disease moved quickly as inspectors struggled to get it under control.
They asked few questions and did not coordinate with law enforcement.
"It does put us in an awkward position. I'll admit that," said Larry Hawkins, a USDA spokesman in California. "We're accused of somehow supporting cockfighting. We don't."
But Wayne Pacelle, vice president of the Humane Society, said the government tacitly encourages cockfighting by paying owners market value instead of seeking to prosecute them under state or federal law.
"The breeding and fighting are inseparable because you have to demonstrate your bird is a good fighter to get good value for it," Pacelle said. "Individuals who break the law should be prosecuted, not remunerated with taxpayer dollars."
Pacelle said the number of game fowl found by inspectors is an obvious tipoff that cockfighting is widespread in the state because he said the number of people who show those birds or keep them as a hobby is small.
The handful of Californians who advertise in publications dedicated to cockfighting were unwilling to talk to The Associated Press. The government withheld the names of all but commercial bird owners.
Bill Mattos, executive director of the California Poultry Federation, said he is not complaining about the discrepancy in compensation for commercial poultry and backyard birds, even if some of the recipients of government money are raising fighting birds or taking part in cock fights.
"It certainly is an issue that maybe should be discussed, but we should be concentrating on getting rid of the disease. If we weren't paying them, we wouldn't be finding them in a lot of cases," Mattos said. "Don't make an irrational decision based on how crazy it sounds."
He paused, then added, "And it does sound crazy."
USDA Exotic Newcastle Disease site: www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/enc/exoticnc.html
©2003 Associated Press
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