LIHU‘E — King Kalakaua outlawed cockfighting during the late 1800s and it has been illegal ever since, Kaua‘i Humane Society Executive Director Dr. Becky Rhoades said Sunday. Hawai‘i is “one of the worst states in the country for weak penalties”
LIHU‘E — King Kalakaua outlawed cockfighting during the late 1800s and it has been illegal ever since, Kaua‘i Humane Society Executive Director Dr. Becky Rhoades said Sunday.
Hawai‘i is “one of the worst states in the country for weak penalties” with regards to animal cruelty, she said. The state needs to “work on strengthening our rules.”
Cockfighting is a “very cruel blood sport,” she said, that is “all about gambling.”
“It’s just horrific,” said Rhoades, who has had first-hand experience with the sport during last year’s incident where some 120 roosters and $70,000 were confiscated from a cockfight in Kapa‘a.
Birds were stacked in piles off the “pits,” many still alive with lacerations covering their bodies caused by three- to four-inch gaffs placed on their feet during the fight, she said.
The Kaua‘i Humane Society is “strongly opposed” to “intentional cruelty for the mere sport of gambling.”
