Police raids Wai'anae cockfight

By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer

Honolulu police today led the news media into a raid on a Wai'anae cockfight. Three people were arrested as more than 500 gamblers and spectators of all ages crowded around the ring where one bloody rooster lay dead.

"Am I going to stop because I was arrested?" said Wai'anae construction worker Peter Ganaban, 30, just before the handcuffs were put on.

"I don't know. How can I stop my culture?"

But Honolulu Police Sergeant Kyle Yonemura, who coordinated the raid by more than 20 officers, said cockfighting is a part of Hawai'i culture which is not only illegal, but troubles neighbors because of its huge crowds, and represents unacceptable cruelty to animals for entertainment and sport.

Police "suppression" raids like that staged yesterday on a large dusty farm 1.2 miles up Ma'ili'ili Road from Farrington Highway have also been part of the culture for decades, but have not been able to stamp out the activity.

No sooner had the team of undercover, vice and crime reduction officers returned from the first raid today at 4 p.m. when they laid plans to stage a second raid on a cockfight in 'Ewa Beach later in the day.

There has been some increased attention to cockfighting since the death, last November, of a man involved in an argument after a cockfight on Bannister Street in Kalihi.

The only violence reported at most fights, however, is among the chickens, and police said they encountered no resistance in today's raid.

Yonemura said the misdemeanor offenses of cruelty to animals and possession of the razor sharp steel gaff owners attach to the legs of their birds are punishable by fines of up to $1,000, and he is aware of fines of $500 given to repeat offenders.

Eve Holt, spokeswoman for the Hawaiian Humane Society, said a bill to close a loophole by making possession of fighting chickens illegal passed the Senate but died in the State House of Representatives last session.