Cracking Down on Cockfighting
Why the bloodsport remains a thriving industry
GALLERY
Stop the Fight!
In the U.S., it's almost game over for the controversial sport of cockfighting
They fight in octagonal or circular pits, with knives or gaffs strapped to their back legs in place of the sawed-off spurs with which roosters naturally do battle. They start on lines drawn in the dirt, eight feet apart. They're bred for aggression and fed steroids and stimulants to make them more hostile. Feathers fly, and one bird winds up dead.
Cockfighting, also known as "cocking," is a bloodsport that dates to colonial times in the United States and has offered gamblers a venue for betting around the world. But a string of federal arrests in Washington and Oregon last week should serve as notice to the organizers of rooster "derbies" across this country, authorities say. Armed with a law passed by Congress in 2006 that bans the interstate transport of "gamefowl" for cockfighting, federal agents raided 28 homes and barns from southern Oregon to Puget Sound on March 15, finding more than 700 roosters in one Oregon county, $100,000 in cash, 50 guns, 2.5 pounds of methamphetamine, 1.5 pounds of cocaine, 6 pounds of marijuana and 48 marijuana plants. The agents arrested 51 people accused of sponsoring or participating in the brutal sport, and are looking for 12 more suspects. The arrests culminate a two-year investigation dubbed "Operation Red Rooster" in Oregon and "Operation Tattered Wing" in Washington that involved hundreds of law enforcement officers and other officials.
Headed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office of the Inspector General, the work was that agency's third major investigation of animal fighting in the past two years, the second prosecution in the nation after last year's passage of the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act, signed into law May 3, 2007.
"Animal fighting can certainly develop into a large criminal enterprise," says James Mendenhall, who headed the Agriculture investigation. "The OIG will continue to pursue substantive allegations of animal fighting."
The arrests came just a year after Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick's dogfighting charges, which heightened the public's awareness of animal fighting, giving lawmakers the necessary urgency to get a bill passed and authorities the teeth to make criminal charges a worthy pursuit.
Animal rights activists rejoiced at the investigation, which they see as a warning to cockers who continue to defy laws that make the sport a felony in 37 states and a misdemeanor in the rest. Dozens of Web sites direct gamefowl enthusiasts to matches. The tagline at http://www.gamerooster.com is "No sport can be higher than the class of people that support it. Do your part to popularize cocking." The site offers gamefowl hatching eggs for as little as $9.99 for a half dozen. Other sites offer links to the "truth" about animal rights activists and a virulent defense of the sport, including claims that the birds enjoy fighting and that the tradition is steeped in history.
In Louisiana, the last state to officially ban the sport in 2007, only one lawmaker voted against the bill that would make the practice illegal: Rep. Elbert Lee Guillory, a Democrat from Opelousas. Guillory stands by his protest vote.
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Member Comments
Posted By: Pokerman11 @ 04/01/2008 9:56:44 PM
Comment: Having been to cockfights and know people that have farms. It???s a sad story all around. What used to be bright beautiful farms full of exotic birds are now vacant areas with broken homes and auctioned land.
Here is how I see it. First off it???s not a human, it???s a chicken. Do not put human values on a chicken. Anyway these are not henny penny white breeds of chickens, they kill each other. There can be only one male in the area. Three brothers raised by the same mother will live together for about two months then if not separated one will kill the other two. This is natural, as most like many other the dominate male kills all rivals. Its how evolution works. This trait has been breed out of domesticated chickens, as well as most produce chicken males are killed two days after birth.
Is it cruel to let these birds attack each other for sport and fund? It???s all a matter of your perspective. People seem to think these chickens are people, so let???s go ahead and put some human values on these birds. Unlike wild or farm chickens, a gamebird gets the best care and environment possible for two years. It really is a golden life for them, free from natural predators, safe from their male counterparts (who would have killed them), the best food and veterinary possible.
Then they get a fighting chance to live on. A good gamebird will fight four or five times and then be retired, more often than not to be a brood ***. As his bloodline is important. Winners get a chance to live.
I find it ironic when farms get raided and authorities then euphonize the birds. Personally if I was a chicken, I would like to live my golden life and have a fighting chance as opposed to being killed by the Humane Society.
I personally never enjoyed the actual bloodspot, but did enjoy the people and seeing the birds and engaging conversations about history of bloodlines, animal husbandry, and most importantly the birds themselves ??? they are beautiful, lively and fascinating. If you live within 200 yards of your neighbor I don???t expect you to understand any of this. The world is different to those that see more green than concrete.
For the most part farms have been shut down, flocks killed, and new birds will not be born. I find it strange that we are condemning these breeds of birds to a fate worse than the chicken fights. There is no longer a fighting chance for these birds, they will just be killed and future flocks never born. Doesn???t it seem cruel to commit gamecocks to death and a fate worst than death ??? non-existence By being ???Humane??? we are denying entire generations ???from ever being born, and executing the ones now around. I can???t see how this is good for the chicken. People should look at what???s best for the chicken for if they had then we would have not outlawed this activity.
Personally, I???d rather be born, live a good life and then have a fighting chance.
Posted By: Pokerman11 @ 04/01/2008 9:56:06 PM
Comment: having been to cockfights and know people that have farms. It's a sad story all around. What used to be bright b
Posted By: taosk8r @ 03/26/2008 11:40:57 PM
Comment: Good job bro.. More good freelance work! ;)