The Humane Society of the United States is pressuring Amazon.com to stop selling two magazines on its website, saying it violates US law.
The Humane Society said it sent a letter on Tuesday to the retailer, detailing its intention to begin legal action unless the magazines — The Feathered Warrior and The Gamecock — are removed immediately from the site. Both are mailed from western Arkansas.
Amazon.com officials did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
The Humane Society cited the Animal Welfare Act, which says it is unlawful to use the ”mail service or the US Postal Service” to promote ”an animal-fighting venture except as performed outside the States of the United States”.
Cockfighting is legal in Louisiana, New Mexico and the US Caribbean territory of Puerto Rico; Arkansas is among 48 states that ban the practice.
In April, The Humane Society asked that the postal service stop allowing the magazines to be sent through the mail, citing the act and postal regulations. Last year, the group asked Amazon.com to stop selling the magazines, but did not get a response.
The Humane Society’s Ann Chynoweth said it would be difficult to stop a magazine from being published — but her group hopes to slow circulation when possible.
Last month, Amazon.com said it would pull a DVD featuring violent pit bull fights that unleashed protests against the distributor and several online merchants that had been peddling the video.
Verna Dowd, editor of The Feathered Warrior, said she wasn’t too concerned about The Humane Society’s threatened lawsuit.
”I don’t know anything about it,” she said. ”I didn’t even know they posted my magazine on Amazon.” – Sapa-AP