Although cockfighting is illegal in all 50 states, proponents of this blood sport beg that the opposition understand their point of view. Alabama (at this writing) is considering changing its law from a misdemeanor to a felony for engaging in cockfighting.
So let's put forth the arguments to overlook this activity:
Hey man. It's only a dumb chicken!
"It's not like people who fight dogs. Now that is cruel. And they are not race horses who we all love and get upset when they break a leg. These are just dumb chickens. These are farm animals first and foremost. Have you ever eaten a chicken? So it gets a little bloody. Ever been to a hog killing? Now that's bloody. These birds have no intelligence whatsoever. They don't even try to run away. Just a dumb chicken. Like us. We fight 'em then we eat 'em. What's the big deal?"
We treat our birds good!
"We see that these birds are well fed, well sheltered, well groomed and even given medical care when needed. A badly injured bird is no good to us so we learn to do some doctoring. And the cutting off of their comb is to protect them from frostbite. Yep, no dumb farm animal is better taken care of. "
We stimulate the economy!
"We are proud that we make a good living with these birds. The buying and selling of dumb farm animals is a great life. And a little betting on the side is just good fun, really. Don't take our livelihood away without considerable thought to the good that we do for the economy."
Keep your nose out of our business!
"Listen. We aren't hurtin' nobody. We don't come to town and tell you how to live your life do we? So don't tell us here on the farm how to live ours. Have you ever heard of the 'domino effect?' First, you want to take away our chickens. Next you'll want to take away our guns. We all got a nice collection of guns, too. Want to see?"
And so the arguments go.
When will this blood sport stop? The Humane Society of the United States, PETA, state legislatures in 38 states and animal lovers from all walks of life and all countries of the world would like for it to stop now. Cockfighting is more than two barnyard chickens having a little argument. It is big business and animal cruelty.
Thanks to YouTube, LLC you can see a cockfight for yourself by clicking here.
If you live in Alabama, take part in the fight to stop this cruel sport by clicking here.
Wherever you live, check your states statutes and make sure your state has strong laws against cockfighting.
UPDATE: March 16, 2009
Cockfighting is definitely not just a farm or back woods problem as you'll see from this article from The Boston Globe.