Tuesday, July 8, 2003 | 11:24 a.m.
STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
WASHINGTON -- Fighting a devastating poultry disease, federal officials in California paid premium prices to destroy birds probably used as fighting cocks. Halting the infestation far outweighed concerns about dealing with outlaws, they said.
The Agriculture Department spent $11.5 million from October to May to destroy 144,000 birds characterized mainly as game fowl, including thousands of roosters and brood cocks that agriculture officials believe were used for fighting.
Those payments averaged $79.31 each, with some roosters and brood cocks valued as high as $500, according to the records obtained by the Associated Press.
That average was over 27 times the average per bird -- $2.89 -- the government paid to kill 3.7 million commercial birds, virtually all egg-laying chickens.
Overall, $22.3 million was paid to chicken ranchers and owners of backyard flocks in the effort to eradicate Exotic Newcastle Disease. Newcastle can wipe out entire flocks of poultry but is harmless to humans.
A similar program was carried out in Nevada from Jan. 16 to late February or early March, said Dr. David Thain, state veterinarian with the Nevada Agriculture Department.
During that period the federal government bought 2,746 birds, 10 percent to 30 percent of which were used for fighting, Thain said. Prices paid were about 30 percent less than in California, with the highest price paid about $200.
"Plus, we paid $5 for a lot of backyard chickens," he said.
Nevada law allows people to own cocks, which are called fancy game birds in the trade, but it is illegal to use them for fighting. The distinction makes it difficult for authorities to find these birds, Thain said.
"It is a real problem when you're dealing with a quasi-legal industry," he said.
The payments drew criticism from the Humane Society and lawmakers who have sought to clamp down on cockfighting.
"I think it's inappropriate to be using taxpayer dollars to be paying for cockfighting birds or to be supporting the cockfighting industry in any way," said Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., who is a veterinarian.
Cockfighting is illegal in all states except Louisiana and parts of New Mexico. In Oklahoma voters approved a ban last year, but lawsuits by gamefowl breeders have suspended enforcement of the new law in about 30 of the state's 77 counties. The Oklahoma Supreme Court has been asked to decide the constitutionality of the ban.
Federal law bans breeders from shipping fighting cocks even to states where cockfighting is legal. Violation is a misdemeanor.
Agriculture officials said they had no qualms about compensating people who probably owned banned fighting birds, saying their sole mission was to eradicate the disease.
"The whole idea of paying compensation is to give people incentive to participate in the program," Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said.
By some estimates, there are 50,000 illegal cockfighting locations in California alone. And while California outlaws cockfighting, owning game cocks is legal, said Steve Lyle, a spokesman for the California Food and Agriculture Department.
"By law, we're required to pay any individual who owns a bird that is taken ... irrespective of what the bird is used for," Lyle said.
Francine Bradley, a poultry expert at the University of California, Davis, said owners should get credit for contacting authorities when they saw outbreaks of Newcastle in their flocks.
"If they wanted to, they could have moved these birds in the dark of night in the backs of vans outside the quarantine area," Bradley said.
Just how the latest outbreak of Newcastle began last fall remains a mystery, but officials said one theory is that fighting cocks were responsible.
"The fighting-bird theory is a real one because that activity involves the movement of birds and because it's such a contagious disease" said Leticia Rico, spokeswoman for the state-federal task force created to fight the Newcastle outbreak.
The disease is caused by a virus found in the droppings, breath and eggs of birds. Containing the disease is especially hard in California because many people keep birds in their back yards.
The outbreak appears to be on the wane. The most recent case was found in a back yard in Los Angeles County on May 31, Rico said.
When it was at its peak in late fall and again last winter, inspectors asked few questions and did not coordinate with law enforcement.
"It does put us in an awkward position. I'll admit that," said Larry Hawkins, a USDA spokesman in California. "We're accused of somehow supporting cockfighting. We don't."
Sun reporter
Timothy Pratt and the Associated Press contributed to this story.
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