R. Reese Fuller

La. man indicted for smuggling cockfighting weapons

by R. Reese Fuller

After attending an international cockfighting derby in the Philippines, Joseph Marty Toralba tried to smuggle 263 gaffs back into the country when he was arrested at the Honolulu airport. (A gaff is a metal spur strapped to a rooster's leg for a cockfight.) The Associated Press reports that the 39-year-old Colfax resident is the first to be indicted under a new federal law that makes the transportation of roosters trained for fighting or implements for cockfghting across state lines a felony. Louisiana is the last state where cockfighting is still legal, but it will outlawed in August. Toralba faces up to three years in prison and a $250,000 fine.