A provision of the 2014 Farm Bill would make attending a cockfight a crime, creating an apparent conflict with local law and tradition that has the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam seeking clarification.
The provision is a small part of the massive annual bill on its way to the president’s desk, which also includes agriculture subsidies and reduced Food Stamp funding. It makes attending a cockfight punishable by up to one year in jail and a $100,000 fine. Bringing a minor up to the age of 16 to a cockfight can land someone in prison for up to three years with a $250,000 fine.
Delegate Donna M. Christensen said Wednesday she has been in contact with the U.S. Department of Justice and is seeking clarification of what the law means for jurisdictions such as the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Guam, which have legal cockfighting.
"We want to bring some certainty to this, so people know what they can and can’t do," Christensen said.
The delegate said she spoke with Ronald Sharpe, U.S. attorney for the Virgin Islands, who contacted the Justice Department in Washington, D.C. "They are not issuing any guidance on this. … Their position is they will take it on a case by case basis," Christensen said.
While it sets penalties for attending fights, the bill never makes cockfights themselves illegal, creating some uncertainty in interpretation of the law, she said. The way Christensen sees it, the goal was to give federal resources to help states that ban cockfighting, comparing the situation to the ambiguous enforcement situation regarding marijuana in the two states that have legalized it, she said.
"Now that still leaves us in some degree of uncertainty as to what could happen – in that Justice is not issuing any guidance," Christensen said. Her office is awaiting feedback from the Department of Agriculture, which has some jurisdiction, as well as from the Congressional Research Service, she said.
"For the time being we are going on the Congressional Research Service and how they have interpreted the law and how it is being interpreted in the other territories," she said.
Asked about cockfighting and whether it should be banned, Christensen said it was a controversial issue with strong feelings on both sides.
"I have lived in St. Croix pretty much all my life, since about 3 months, and my father raised fighting cocks as well as being a lawyer and a judge," she said. "It’s very much a part of the culture and isn’t something that easily changes. So there will be very strong advocates to have it continue and I know the animal rights activists will have the exact opposite position," she said.
While many people may be outraged at the idea of the fights, Christensen said "if you drive past the cockpit in (Estate) Glynn" when there is a fight, "you will see cars lined up a mile up the road.”
“And they are my constituents as well. … Cockfighting people are not only my constituents but are among my staff," she said.
Christensen said she is avoiding taking a position on the underlying question and is just seeking clarification of the law.
V.I. Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen has also asked V.I. Attorney General Vincent Frazer and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to weigh in on the matter.
“The federal laws and our territorial laws do not align, and so our people are rightfully concerned about whether they can participate in this activity that has been a part of the Virgin Islands culture and tradition for many, many years,” Hansen said in a statement.
Hansen took a shot at Christensen over the fact that the provision criminalizing attending a cockfight entered the bill.
“We had expected our Delegate to Congress to obtain an exception to the new federal cockfighting laws for the Virgin Islands based on the cultural significance of the activity for us. However that did not happen, and now there’s confusion," Hansen said.
Frazer said he would not comment on the question until his department finishes its review.
Jean Greaux Jr., a spokesman for Gov. John deJongh Jr., said this week that the administration would be guided by Frazer’s opinion.
I constantly warn people about voting for people that are not born and raised from the Virgin Islands,it’s like Marshall law!…a straight American brainwashing…..
More and more you realize the benefits of letting America run ya..is not benefiting islanders…
You’ll are so stupid,their making it legal for whites to smoke And grow marijuana..right in he United States…but destroying it in the virgin islands..when that was the draw of the tourists too..the beach,coconuts,,island foods,marijuana,reggea and soca,island life..
I find Donna Christensen’s attitude appalling not to mention Hansen’s.
Our VI Senators and elected leaders need to come into the 21st Century regarding our present animal cruelty laws.
Cockfighting is illegal in all 50 states, as well it should be.
In New York, for instance, cockfighting and possession of a fighting bird at a cockfighting location are felonies, with each charge carrying a maximum penalty of four years in jail and a maximum fine of $25,000.
It is illegal to own cock fighting paraphernalia, to attend or allow attendance by minors.
These blood sports have been made illegal in the USA – for a very good reason and laws enacted to protect animals from being abused in this horrible fashion.
I find it appalling that some Senators (Nelson and Hanson, in particular) wish to continue pandering to base desires of a tiny percentage of our island’s population who wish to continue with this barbaric activity.
It is not sport nor is it entertainment and it certainly is not part of our VI Culture.
As a 12 generation Virgin Islander I can tell you that cock and dog fighting were never a part of OUR culture.
It is a part of a “lowlife” culture that was brought here from elsewhere and it is time for it to be eliminated.
There is nothing cultural to be proud of about setting animals to fight to their deaths while inflicting extreme pain and agony on them in the process just so one can gamble on it.
Wonder how much of those ill gotten earnings are reported for taxes?
Must we continue to cater to small minds, base desires and barbarism to win a couple of votes here and there?
Slavery was once part of the “culture” but we evolved. Just because the Romans fed Christians to Lions for entertainment and people kept slaves does not mean it had to continue because it “was part of the Culture.”.
People evolve from barbaric behaviors and it is time to begin this evolution in the U.S. Virgin islands.
“Many past cultural practices, such as slavery, bordellos, and beheading were stopped for ethical reasons.”
“Tradition and culture are forces that change in accordance with new scientific understanding and evolving ethical standards.”
“Tradition is no excuse for exploitive brutality, inhumane cruelty and barbarism.”
It is time for all our local Humane Societies, Animal Care programs, animal welfare advocates and enlightened individuals to unite and press our Senators to change our laws regarding cock fighting, make it illegal and review,
in general, all our present animal cruelty laws and bring us up to date with enforcement and penalties regarding the abuse of all of our islands animals.
There is no way to disguise or package cruelty and barbarism nor allow it to continue.
Speak out and contact your Senators and demand we come into the 21st Century and update our Animal Cruelty Laws.
You know they won’t do it on their own!
Shut the fuck up
First, they’re just friggin’ chickens and I couldn’t care less about cockfighting, and enjoyed a couple bouts at Turpentine Run over the years, but do encourage you to pursue your bid for independence from the American teat 1000%. Then you’ll get an education with Governor Chucky or Bert. Or worse. Right down the Caribbean toilet into 3rd worlddom.
Alana…you’re simply brilliant! I love everything you said, right on point! Donna Christiansen, Chucky Hansen, Nelson and some of the other useless pack of senators in the VI should be thrown in the cockpit and let them violently go at each other – just as the defenseless animals are forced to do simply for entertainment and financial gain. They all disgust me! No wonder the crime in the VI is so bad. The people are becoming desensitized to violence. They are no boundaries for abusers/violent criminals; there is a link between cruelty to animals and violence toward humans. Animal abuse is a heinous crime and should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. This takes me back to the article I read a couple of months ago when some senators and the governor voted to have a Dolphin “prison” in the VI…still disgusted by it! PETA will be reading this article.
It seem low-life abuse is not against the law….well poor low-life’s 80% of the Virgin Islands population,who isn’t even 100,000 strong.independence yes…..the u.s always want to impose:.how about when their imposing their laws on Islanders they scout our college kids to become future millionaire in their sports industry..and accept us in everything that makes money in America……everything that’s seems like it’s West Indian or Afro Caribbean is disgusting..it even seem like a shame to talk like a native Virgin Islander with an accent….how about when good paying jobs are present they stop sending their own people to eat up most of positions.!!…..
Crime is created when there are no jobs for the people of tomorrow who every year are turning 18 years old in groups of hundreds..
Keep on bushing bullshit on the people and see what happens when their sick of it
To hell with animals,u kill cows and sheep and fish and eat them too,and chickens…
How about deal with people first before looking at ways to make a poor hamster live like a king
Until all animals and people are free, the rest of us will never be free. Do you think The Creator of All wants us to put swords on animals and watch them tear each other apart? I don’t think so. I am surprised that a culture that knows all too well about slavery would enslave anything, including roosters. If anyone wants to watch two roosters fight, just put them in the yard together. You don’t have to put swords on them. They fight naturally. If watching two animals kill each other is what floats your boat, then watch them in their natural state. We are to have dominion over the animals, which means to take care of them and to work with them, not to make money off abusing them. Is there anything people won’t do for money? Do the people that are interested in this type of thing even take into account what the chickens give to us, i.e., source of food, a natural alarm clock in the morning. Why would we destroy and abuse this wonderful resource in the name of gambling and money?
If they outlaw cockfighting then men will just use another body part to fight with.
When men start fighting each other for money they will outlaw men in the Virgin Islands..I think they do already. that’s y so many neighborhoods have (war)..let them keep destroying everything the people have,when the effects spill over to them,they’ll know it’s their fault,when the robbing and the killings spill over Into their nice quiet neighborhoods..they will cry to let the people have what they’ve had before they chose to intervene with their nonsense…
If you want to protest what the Americans have brought to your island, protest all the plastic bags, the plastic bottles, the processed foods, the big businesses, such as McDonald’s, Kmart and Home Depot, which eventually shut down the mom and pop businesses. You guys should have been protesting HOVENSA a long time ago and never stopped. Protest all of the weapons that have ended up on your island that weren’t here years and years ago. Protest all of this wireless technology and these cell towers that have been brought down here that are affecting humans, the bees, the bats, and Lord only knows what else. What we are trying to accomplish with the stopping of cock fighting is a rise in consciousness with how we treat all of The Creator’s creations. I am all for fighting against American products and policies down in the Virgin Islands, because as we can all see from what is going on in America, their policies don’t work. Their whole way of life is not sustainable and most of us get it down here. We have let the American way trump the Virgin Islands way for a very long time now, and that is why we suffer. We should have never traded agriculture for tourism and big business. Protest living under American law, protest the unsustainability of the way Americans live, protest their toxic food, protest all their plastic, etc., but we all must rise in consciousness to end the enslavement and abuse of all of The Creator’s creations.
The Barefoot Minister
Defending the barbaric blood sport of cock fighting because it is ” cultural” is not justifiable .Slavery was also ” cultural” but that did not make it right .
Bravo to Senators Nellie O’Reilly and Clarence Payne for honoring the message of Dr. Martin Luther King,Jr .who said;
” Never , never be afraid to do what’s right
especially if the well being of a person or animal is at stake”
I do not see how this would benefit the Virgin Islands, considering our cultural ties to Puerto Rico and the thousands that participate in the sport on both ST Thomas and ST Croix. Suppose this were to take place and become illegal, what then of the people that have participated for generations, and I detest the attempt to classify people as low life or whatever other disparaging terms used within this medium. Let me see if memory serves me well I grew up in the “pit” and was surounded by judges, dorcotrs lawyers, teachers, etc every Sunday. So according to the opponents I should not have accomplished any of what I have been able to …..Retired Soldier, MPA, etc………
Mother fuckers on here talking about banning cockfighting cause it’s not part of our cluture shut the fuck up. You mother fucker out there on st Patrick’s day acting like fool’s and it’s not our culture . If you don’t like the sport stay the fuck away from it . I aslo think y’all should stop eating chicken also. The chicken we eat only live to see 5 days and live in poor conditions. Gamefowl live like queen and kings.