Although the Guam Department of Agriculture has been cooperating with animal rights group Animal Wellness Action, GDOA director Chelsa Muna-Brecht stated to PNC there is no hurry to restrict imported animals as laws locally have not changed.
Animal Wellness Action has released live-animal shipping records from the Guam Department of Agriculture that the group claims show more than 500 illegal shipments of fighting birds to Guam from 2017 to 2019.
According to a release, this morning from the group, cockfighters from the U.S. mainland made more than 500 shipments of fighting birds to customers on Guam.
The group is calling on the Guam Department of Agriculture to review and revise the live-animal clearance process for the shipment of birds to Guam.
AWA Founder Wayne Pacelle, in an interview with NewsTalk K57’s Patti Arroyo, reiterated that prohibitions have been in place for over a decade. He also stated that his foundation wrote a letter to the Guam Department of Agriculture asking them to stop authorizing additional imports of birds.
A District Court magistrate judge on Guam has already recommended denying a motion for preliminary injunction filed by a local cockfighting enthusiast. Two months ago, a U.S. District Court Judge in Puerto Rico rejected similar legal maneuvers by cockfighting clubs in that U.S. territory.
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