Animal Wellness Action Issues Statement About Teen charged on multiple murders after a cockfight

Organization calls for stronger laws to deter animal fighting and burden on law enforcement

News Release from Animal Wellness Action, Sept 29, 2023

Washington — Today, Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy issued a statement on news that Honolulu Police have booked and charged a 16-year-old suspect on multiple murder counts after a deadly cockfight in April in Maili that left two people dead and three others injured, according to news reports.

Wayne Pacelle, President of Animal Wellness Action issued this statement:

“It’s proper that the defendant face serious charges. But I cannot help but think that political timidity for decades has allowed cockfighting to fester in Hawaii.  Politicians have been cowardly in not addressing this malicious form of animal cruelty that is always bound up with other forms of lawlessness.  It would be a dereliction of duty if lawmakers do not fortify the anemic anti-cockfighting law in the state in the wake of a mass shooting at a regular and known cockfighting venue.”

Both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate have issued the Fighting Inhumane Gambling and High-Risk Trafficking (FIGHT) Act, and the authors hope to include the provision as an amendment to the Farm bill. Both pieces of legislation were driven by concerns for the barbarism of animal fighting, other criminal behavior commingled with it, and disease threats to poultry posed by transporting fighting roosters.

The FIGHT Act, amending Section 26 of the Animal Welfare Act, would enhance the enforcement opportunities by banning simulcasting and gambling of animal fighting ventures; halting the shipment of mature roosters (chickens only) shipped through the U.S. mail (it is already illegal to ship dogs through the mail); creating a citizen suit provision, after proper notice to federal authorities, to allow private right of action against illegal animal fighters; and enhancing forfeiture provisions to include real property for animal fighting crimes.

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KHON: Teen faces murder charges in deadly Maili chicken fight investigation

Animal Wellness Action is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(4) whose mission is to help animals by promoting laws and regulations at federal, state and local levels that forbid cruelty to all animals. The group also works to enforce existing anti-cruelty and wildlife protection laws. Animal Wellness Action believes helping animals helps us all. Twitter: @AWAction_News

The Center for a Humane Economy is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(3) whose mission is to help animals by helping forge a more humane economic order. The first organization of its kind in the animal protection movement, the Center encourages businesses to honor their social responsibilities in a culture where consumers, investors, and other key stakeholders abhor cruelty and the degradation of the environment and embrace innovation as a means of eliminating both. The Center believes helping animals helps us all. Twitter: @TheHumaneCenter