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Cockfighting is an ongoing issue in the US
New Mexico was the 49th state to make cockfighting
illegal. In August, Louisiana will become the final state. However, it is
reported that the sport continues in hidden venues.
It is reported that only light penalties are given for a first offense,
which attracts cockfighters from four of New Mexico's five neighboring states,
where the sport is a felony.
The New York Times reports that law enforcement officers are not giving up.
They insist that raids, full-time investigators, and a special cockfighting task
force, are sending a message in a war of attrition.
Nationally, though, it appears that animal rights advocates are winning
that war. Circulation of the country's largest trade magazine for cockfighting,
The Gamecock, has fallen to 8,000 from about 14,000 over the last decade as
states strengthened penalties for animal cruelty.
And the wider cockfighting community, once an $80 million industry in the
state, is suffering. In New Mexico, profits at feed stores and hotels in
cockfighting strongholds are down as much as 70 percent, owners said.
Source: New York Times
Editor WorldPoultry
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