Oklahoma senator wants boxing gloves for chickens
OKLAHOMA CITY — A state senator has a plan for saving Oklahoma’s gamefowl industry now that cockfighters are legally prohibited from pitting birds fitted with razor-like spurs.
State Sen. Frank Shurden, a longtime defender of cockfighting, is suggesting that roosters be given little boxing gloves so they can fight without bloodshed.
The proposal is in a bill the Democrat has introduced for the legislative session that begins Feb. 7.
“Who’s going to object to chickens fighting like humans do? Everybody wins,” Shurden said.
Oklahoma voters banned cockfighting in 2002. The practice is still legal in Louisiana and New Mexico.
Shurden said he’s not trying to amend the existing cockfighting ban, something he tried the past few years without success.
Shurden’s legislation would create the Oklahoma Pari-mutuel Gamecock Boxing Act.
— From staff and wire reports.
