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(Salt Lake City-AP) -- Utah breeders of game fowl say a new federal crackdown on interstate transportation of roosters for cockfighting will not stop the competition.
The transportation ban is part of the new federal farm bill. It goes into effect in May.
Previously, under the 1976 Animal Welfare Act, gamecock breeders could ship their birds to states or countries where the fights were legal.
Cockfighting has been illegal in Utah since 1888. New Mexico and Louisiana are the only states where it still is legal.
Larry Bain of Layton -- former president of the Utah Gamefowl Breeders Association -- estimates 150 to 200 people in Utah actively raise roosters for fighting competitions.
He said the new federal law will just guarantee that more cockfighting is done illegally in a breeder's own state, since most of them would rather face a state law than a federal law.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
