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Cockfighting bill passes the House

Posted at 9:59 PM, Mar 10, 2015
and last updated 2015-03-10 23:59:24-04

SALT LAKE CITY — A bill to make cockfighting a crime in Utah finally appears poised to pass the legislature.

Senate Bill 134, sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake City, passed the House late Tuesday on a 41-33 vote. It must go back to the Senate for concurrence because of a House amendment to the bill before going to the governor for action.

In the House debate, Rep. Earl Tanner, R-West Jordan, declared that roosters fight because it is their nature.

“By animal standards, this isn’t such a bad life that these fighting roosters have,” he said. “There’s nothing inherently immoral about fighting chickens.”

Other lawmakers disagreed. Rep. LaVar Christensen, R-Draper, called cockfighting “reprehensible.”

“This is heinous,” he said.