Cracking Down on Cockfighting
"The cockfighting industry in St. Landry County is a $12 million industry, in a place where there are very few industries and it's very difficult for people to make a living here," Guillory says. "We eat billions of chickens every day. What we're talking about is putting the interest of chickens over the interests of people."
Guillory says he knows of 600 local families affected by the loss of the industry, working in feed stores, raising roosters and preparing them for battle, and veterinarians who treat their injuries. Chickens raised for consumption, on the other hand, live in "hellish conditions, in stench and chemicals," Guillory adds. "If you come out to look at where a fighting chicken is raised, it's a totally different life. It's the difference between being in prison and being free."
Such sentiments are losing ground nationally, however, especially as the public better understands the carnage involved in cocking. Sometimes the knives on the back of a cock's legs get stuck in the bird's opponent, requiring the referees to call for the handlers to pull the roosters apart, says John Goodwin, manager of animal fighting issues at the Humane Society of the United States. That doesn't necessarily mean the melee is over, however. A cockfight ends only when one bird stops trying or dies.
Circulation at the three magazines that cater to cockers is dropping, thanks to increasingly tough regulations and a growing awareness of the sport's links to drugs, gambling and the spread of avian diseases, Goodwin says. Grit and Steel magazine offered new subscribers a chance of winning a free fighting rooster last month in a contest to stave off declining readership.
"In 2003 in the Southwest there was an outbreak of exotic Newcastle disease that spread throughout the region by the movement of fighting roosters," Goodwin says. "You've got several hundred roosters spraying blood on each other. Half die; half live. If one of them goes into a cockfighting pit carrying the virus, another is going back to the farms alive."
Cockfighting was largely unnoticed until the late 1990s, Goodwin says, when his organization and others started working to pass state-by-state legislation to ban the sport. It was legal in five states then and a felony offense in 17.
Cocking remains prevalent in the mostly Southern states that punish it as a misdemeanor, Goodwin says, estimating that 20,000 to 30,000 people still participate in the sport nationwide.
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Member Comments
Posted By: Brien Comerford @ 05/12/2008 8:07:06 PM
Comment: Bullfighting, cockfighting, dogfighting, hunting, trapping, slaughterhouses and all forms of animal abuse are monstrous atrocities that verify that too many humans are rife with inhumane cruelty, violence and irreverence for life.
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