Hawaii found to be among leading exporters of illegal cockfighting birds

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - An animal rights group found that Hawaii to be one of the nation’s leading exporters of cockfighting birds.

Animal Wellness Action (AWA) and Animal Wellness Foundation (AWF) requested public records from the Guam Department of Agriculture and obtained nearly 2,500 pages of shipping records dated November 2017 to September 2019.

They found that there were about 750 shipments of birds by 71 individuals from several states to Guam and revealed that Hawaii had more shippers of fighting birds than any other state.

Wayne Pacelle, President of Animal Wellness Action said shipping records turned up 22 people suspected of animal trafficking and adds that more than 1,400 birds were exported from Hawaii.

“We believe that they misrepresented the purposes of these shipments, these were cockfighting birds they call them rude foul because this is a way, they are being clever to evade prosecution,” said Pacelle. “Because it’s not illegal to ship roosters or chickens in general, it is illegal to possess and ship birds for fighting purposes.”

The group also released video from a broadcasting network based in the Philippines called BNTV which revealed several locations in Hawaii where game birds are bred.

Pacelle said the birds could be sold up to $2,000 to $3,000 each.

AWA and AWF is asking for tougher laws and enforcement against cockfighting in Hawaii.

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