Is A Fighting Rooster A Chicken?

VILLE PLATTE, La. (AP) — Is a fighting rooster a chicken?

The Evangeline Parish Police Jury asked the state Attorney General's Office to officially weigh in on the issue, questioning whether uncertainty over the fowl's scientific name might invalidate the 2008 state ban on cockfighting.

The state's top legal minds determined this month that a chicken is a chicken is a chicken.

At issue was whether roosters that are pitted against each other in cockfights fit the legal definition of "chicken" used in the state ban, which defines the fowl in question as "any bird which is of the species Gallus gallus."

Evangeline Parish officials say the issue arose after a group of residents asked the police jury to license a cockfighting operation in the parish.