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broonzy
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Rooster kills spectator at illegal cockfight | Sympatico.ca News
In a freak accident in Central California, a man attending a cockfight died after being stabbed in the calf by a bird with a knife attached to its own leg.
Jose Luis Ochoa, 35, of Lamont, CA, was declared dead at a hospital in nearby Delano, some two hours after the incident.
Ray Pruitt, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, said that it was unclear whether the death resulted from a delay in seeking medical attention. The underlying implication is that Ochoa might have been avoiding a distress call for fear that the cockfighting activity might have landed Ochoa and others in legal trouble.
Then there's the fact that Ochoa and the other spectators tried to flee when authorities arrived at the scene of the cockfight.
Oh, and just one more thing: Ochoa had already paid a $370 fine for misdemeanours related to owning or training animals for fighting purposes. Under California law, a second offense for this sort of crime is a felony, so Mr. Ochoa might have faced jail time. Now he won't have to.
I hope it goes without saying that staging death matches between animals is indefensible on virtually every level one could imagine.
We can only hope that if one good thing comes out of Ochoa's unfortunate death - along with the death of five chickens found at the scene - it's a continued crackdown on so-called spectator "sports" whose only appeal is the death of animals and, usually, the financial gain of those involved in the related gambling.
Sadly, we've seen this horror show before, but we haven't seen much progress.
Back in 2007, when NFL star Michael Vick was caught in the middle of a pit bull ring - and jailed for his involvement - everyone assumed his career would be over.
More to the point, one would have hoped that Vick's crimes would have shone a spotlight on underground animal cruelty.
But public memory is short and star quarterbacks are hard to come by. Not only is Vick now back in the NFL, he was just given a ceremonial key to the city of Dallas by city councillor Dwaine Caraway.
If all that irritates you, consider this: the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies (CFHS) says that under Canadian law, Vick (and Ochoa, if he had lived) would likely have walked had they been arrested.
Although animal fighting has been illegal here for 115 years, authorities have to catch perpetrators red-handed while a fight is in progress -- a virtual impossibility.
Back in 2008, Bill S-203 was passed to increase the penalties on animal abusers, but according to the CFHS, it misses the point, because the problem is that the abusers can't be prosecuted in the first place.
If you don't find cruelty to animals disturbing in its own right, consider the fact that it's often considered a "gateway" step to violence against people. And hey, it just got a guy killed in California.
The CFHS has set up a website called stopanimalabuse.ca, enabling Canadians to implore the government to take animal abuse more seriously.
