Unconstitutional — 04/04/08

Sat, May 17 2008

— It’s difficult to imagine that a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the federal law against animal fighting will be successful, but since it is a federal suit, it at least has the potential of impacting laws in Kentucky and other states against cockfighting, dog fighting and other cruel “sports” in which animals fight to the death for the entertainment of humans.
American Game Fowl Society president Anthony Saville and five other plaintiffs have filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Columbus against the U.S. departments of Agriculture and Justice.
Another plaintiff, Robert Aaron Miller of New Lexington, Ohio, claims the federal government has no authority to ban animal fighting. However, the federal Animal Welfare Act was updated in 2007 to make animal fighting a felony. It also made it illegal to cross state lines to fight animals or to advertise fights.
Animal fighting has been illegal in most states for many years. However, it was only last year that Louisiana became the final state to ban cockfighting.
It took a prolonged court battle over the veto of a portion of an animal protection law by former Gov. John Y. Brown Jr. before the Kentucky Supreme Court declared cockfighting illegal in this state. Nevertheless, no one is so naive as to think that no cockfighting takes place in Kentucky. It is just not as open as it once was.
The negative publicity surrounding the arrest of former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick on dog fighting charges helped to shed some light on those who continue to get their thrills from the cruel treatment of animals. One hopes that has had the positive effect of reducing the number of illegal fights between animals.
We can’t imagine the courts declaring that the federal government can’t ban animal fighting. This latest suit is grasping at straws.