Cockfighting's 'cultural tradition' kept alive in USA
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/200 ... htm?csp=34

Posted 1/22/2007 10:18 PM ET
By Emily Bazar, USA TODAY

Immigration has helped fuel the popularity of cockfighting, a common practice in some countries that is illegal in most of the USA .

Statistics are hard to come by, but law enforcement officials and animal rights groups in places such as Denver , Houston and Santa Barbara County , Calif. , say they've seen a surge. Others question whether there's just more attention on the activity because police are cracking down.

Cockfighting is illegal in every state except Louisiana and New Mexico .

"It's definitely on the rise," says Wayne Pacelle , head of the Humane Society of the United States . Pacelle says the Internet has helped connect cockfighters. He also cites increased involvement of immigrants from countries such as Mexico and the Philippines . "It's legal in a lot of places where there's significant immigration to the United States ," he says. "You're seeing participation from people of those nations."

Mark Kumpf of the National Animal Control Association acknowledges there can be a cultural link. He doesn't think cockfighting is on the rise, though. What's up, he says, is enforcement.

Police are aggressively busting cockfighting operations, from fights to bird smuggling, because crimes such as drug dealing, assault and gambling often are associated, he says.

On Sunday, authorities raided a cockfight in Boydton , Va. Mecklenburg County Sheriff Danny Fox says 122 people were cited for violating the state's ban, 22 were arrested by Homeland Security officials and accused of being in the country illegally, and 126 birds were seized.

Bird flu fear

Kumpf says authorities also are motivated by concerns that cockfighting may contribute to the spread of bird flu. In Asia , it is suspected in some cases of spreading bird flu to humans, and, through smuggling, from country to country, the World Health Organization says.

In cockfighting, razor blades or sharp metal spurs called gaffs are strapped to the legs of specially bred roosters. Spectators place bets and watch the birds battle, often to the death.

U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Calif., says fear of bird flu is one reason he is sponsoring a bill that would make it a felony to transport a bird or animal across state or national borders for fighting. It also would prohibit interstate and foreign commerce in cockfighting implements such as gaffs.

In Denver , the number of informal backyard fights is up, says Doug Kelley, director of the Division of Animal Care and Control. "It's normally a couple of households getting together for what they think of as a friendly competition," he says.

Animal control officer James Lopez says the practice is especially popular in Denver 's Mexican community. "It's legal in Mexico , so a lot of people come up here and feel they should be able to do it here, too," he says.

The Santa Barbara County sheriff's department broke up four cockfighting rings last year, three run by Hispanics and one by Hmong, says Sgt. Erik Raney.

About 150 birds were confiscated in one case after a drug bust led to a broader investigation. "We often find that the people arrested have other criminal records," Raney says.

Cockfighting has increased "at an alarming rate" in the Houston area, says Sgt. Mark Timmers of the Harris County Constable Precinct 6. He says the number of fighting roosters seized doubles every year. Last year, it was about 800.

A cultural tradition

In New Mexico , Diana Orosco VanHoozen takes talk of cockfighting personally.

Once her two daughters were old enough to walk, they helped her feed and handle the roosters, she says. Her birds, numbering about 130, represent family and cultural tradition to VanHoozen. A self-described "fifth-generation cockfighter," she raises, breeds and fights roosters.

"This has been in our family for hundreds of years," says VanHoozen, 36, of Las Cruces , who traces some of her lineage to Mexico . "It's Mexican culture. Anywhere you go in Mexico , you can find a cockfight."

Some New Mexico lawmakers, animal rights groups and others want to make cockfighting illegal. Last month, Gov. Bill Richardson backed the idea.

In Louisiana , state Sen. Arthur Lentini plans to introduce a bill to ban cockfighting when the Legislature convenes in April, according to his assistant, JoAnn Loebig.

VanHoozen calls New Mexico 's effort discrimination. "I want to be able to still practice my cultural tradition," she says.

State Sen. Mary Jane Garcia, a Democrat, counters, "Whose culture are we talking about?"

Garcia's grandparents are from Mexico . She says her family has never participated in cockfighting.

Garcia has been trying to get a cockfighting ban in New Mexico for 18 years. Last week, she introduced a bill to make cockfighting — or attending a fight — a felony.

A 2004 Albuquerque Journal poll found that 66% of registered state voters would support a law banning cockfighting. Among Hispanic voters, 59% favored a ban. "To me, it's an animal-cruelty issue. It's barbaric and gruesome," Garcia says. "It's an illegal and unethical practice. They allow young boys to go in there and gamble."

Garcia acknowledges that cockfighting is still common south of the border. "It's still practiced a lot in Mexico , but we're not in Mexico anymore," she says.

Most cockfighters and spectators in New Mexico are Hispanic, says Ronald Barron of the New Mexico Gamefowl Breeders Association.

"At least 95% of the people raising game fowl in the state are Hispanic," he says. "It's part of the Hispanic tradition."

Fred Hawley, professor of criminal justice at Western Carolina University , has done research on cockfighting.

"Like any other folk practice, it's been spreading along with a number of other folk practices, like folk healing, into areas that attract large Hispanic populations," he says.

Hawley and Pacelle say cockfighting is also popular with rural whites.

Cockfighters take the practice from their native countries because they feel pride in the tradition, Hawley says. "For people who have been doing it for generations, this is symbolic and important," he says.

Timmers cautions against generalizing about ethnic groups. He says, "There are no cultural boundaries when it comes to cockfighting."