The Wichita Eagle reports that the Kansas legislature has approved a bill that will explicitly outlaw cockfighting in Kansas. The new law will make cockfighting a crime punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. A spokeswoman for Kansas Gov. Bill Graves said that the governor plans to sign the bill into law.
The bill passed overwhelmingly 112-10 in the Kansas state House and 36-4 in the Senate.
The new law is aimed at shoring up Kansas’ animal cruelty laws. According to the Humane Society of the United States’ Wayne Pacelle, Kansas was one of six states that do not explicitly ban cockfighting in their legal codes.
Instead, cockfighting was prosecuted in Kansas as a violation of animal cruelty laws which, according to the new law’s supporters, made them difficult cases to prosecute.
Source:
Lawmakers pass cockfighting ban. Mike Berry, The Wichita Eagle, May 14, 2002.