Posted on: Wednesday, September 8, 2004

No native right to cockfight, judge rules

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau

Native Hawaiians do not have a constitutional right to engage in cockfighting, a Maui judge has ruled.

In an 11-page decision issued Aug. 31, 2nd Circuit Court Judge Joel August rejected a lawsuit against Maui County and the state by two Maui men who claimed they are entitled to engage in cockfighting because their Native Hawaiian ancestors had done so.

The state and all of its counties have laws prohibiting cockfighting. However, the Hawai'i State Constitution protects Native Hawaiian customary traditions and practices, and Daniel Lealoha Kahaikupuna and Frederick Ponce argued that cockfighting should be included.

According to noted Native Hawaiian scholar and historian David Malo, a form of cockfighting known as "haka moa" was once "a very fashionable sport with the ali'i."

The county moved to dismiss the suit. Deputy Corporation Counsel Jane Lovell said cockfighting has been illegal since at least 1884, during the reign of King David Kalakaua.

August agreed with the county, saying that even though Native Hawaiians may have engaged in cockfighting, it was illegal when the monarchy was overthrown in 1893.

Lovell said yesterday that neither Kahaikupuna nor Ponce has been arrested for cockfighting.

It is not known whether the ruling will be appealed. The plaintiffs and their attorney, James Richard McCarty, could be reached for comment yesterday.

Reach Timothy Hurley at thurley@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 244-4880.