Thousands of roosters destined for cockfighting rings are existence shipped abroad from the US every year, according to Animal Wellness Action (AWA).

Congress is urging the US Postal Service to pay off more listen to the nearly 20-year ban on the interstate highway and strange ship of animals for fighting purposes.

Washington DC-based AWA examined unrecorded animal cargo ships records catalogued by the GU Department of Agriculture (GDOA). It found that the Pacific Ocean island, a US Territory, had received 10,000 roosters from the mainland US in the past foursome years. All had been shipped via USPS.

“It is shocking to property live animals inwards a box with no more food or irrigate and send out them on a long, multi-flight journeying – inward some cases an 8000-mile journey from North Carolina to GU – to final stage up inward a cockfight,” said John Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action. “We are not sure what’s worse, the flying or the fight.”

Angry Birds

Cockfighting bouts involve spectators placing bets while the birds struggle to the death with hooked razors, known as “gaffs” or “slashers,” attached to their talons. The birds are sometimes injected with steroids to increment fighting potential.

The blood athletics is prohibited inward 50 states, but was effectual in Guam and other cockfighting hotspots, such as Puerto Rico, until cobbler's last month. U.S. Congress amended the Animal Welfare Act to include all US Territories in tardily 2020, giving all US Territories 12 months to comply.

We demand to halt the shipment of animals for fighting purposes via the US Wiley Post Service,” said Rep. Nancy Chemical Mace (R-SC). “This barbaric and cruel apply needs farther investigation and those responsible demand to be held accountable.

“I itch the US Postal Inspection Service to work on to a greater extent aggressively to interdict illegal trafficking of fighting animals through US mail,” she added.

Cockfighting remains effectual and culturally recognised inward often of Latin America, although some countries make rules against play on the blood sport.

Meanwhile, pockets of illegal cockfighting persist inwards the US, in particular inwards rural areas.

The AWA investigation found that Sooner State was the biggest exporter of roosters to Guam, followed past rural parts of California.

Time to Deliver

A two-party aggroup of 36 Congressmen and women have got sent a letter to Chief Postal Inspector Gary Barksdale demanding the USPS evolve a comprehensive strategy to notice rooster trafficking, particularly to Guam.

This should include “detailed plans on how it testament block illegal trafficking of animals for fighting purposes, and what barriers it faces inward doing so,” the lawmakers said.

Barksdale will be required to study to US Congress on the specifics of that plan, so let’s desire the missive arrived in a well timed(p) fashion.