FED UP!!!!

I don't eat chicken (4.00 / 1)

And I would never feed chicken-eating members of my family commercial, factory raised chicken.

You have a point that roosters will naturally fight.  I was raised on a farm back in the days when farm families raised their own food, including chickens for eggs and meat.  Yeah, they got into fights.  Usually the real aggressive ones ended up on the dinner table.  But none of our yard chickens were wearing knives on their feet.  And we weren't standing around getting our jollies by watching them try to kill each other, either.

That's a harm to society you don't address -- all those people who enjoy watching two animals bloody and kill each other, enjoy it so much they bet on the outcome.  Making sport of death and bloodshed is not a healthy occupation.

As for your remarks about PETA and HSUS, you seem to be unaware that PETA has been very outspoken about the cruel treatment of chickens in factory farms and slaughter houses.

The best thing that you can do for chickens is to stop eating them and spread the word to your friends about the health, environmental, and animal welfare problems caused by raising chickens for food.

Ditto the HSUS who sent an undercover investigator inside a chicken operation to capture really disgusting images of shocking conditions in a factory farm.  Seriously, most of y'all don't want to watch this.

PETA and HSUS -- and people like me -- don't just want to end cockfighting, we want to end the cruel treatment of chickens and other animals wherever it happens.  We also want to put a stop to or at least heavily fine the enjoyment of cruelty -- such as at cockfights.  Folks take little kids to see this bloodletting!  What are you thinking?  

The HSUS also sent an investigator to Alabama to film some cockfights -- those interested can watch that video here.  I'm assuming the chickens that have "proven" themselves are the ones that survive.  The dead ones don't get to live like kings, of course.

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Thu Mar 15, 2012 at 13:53:31 PM UTC

Spell check is your friend. (4.00 / 2)

I don't eat chicken, so youre rant about "going after them all" is lost on me.

As is any defense of cruelty to animals.  Especially one that makes totally stupid claims like this:

PETA and HSUS kill more animals a year than chickens die due to cockfighting.

You're with the reality-based community here, buddy.  Tell your fanciful tale to Ken Guin instead.  I believe he's supporting himself nowadays defending illegal activities.

 

"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness."  - John Kenneth Galbraith

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by: countrycat @ Thu Mar 15, 2012 at 14:52:27 PM UTC

Ummm... (4.00 / 2)

Since 1998 PETA has killed more than 17,000 animals, nearly 85 percent of all those it has rescued

Not a supporter of cockfighting but not a big PETA fan, either.

"If guns kept America safe, then America would surely be the safest country in the whole world." - Rep. Carolyn Maloney

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by: mpmarus @ Thu Mar 15, 2012 at 16:11:32 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I'm not a donor, but (4.00 / 2)

the purpose they serve, IMO, is to draw attention to issues.  And yes, they do it in the most dramatic way possible.  They are media-saavy.

But by staking out the extreme, they make it easier for the "mainstream" groups like HSUS, ASPCA, and local animal welfare groups to work with government on all levels.  PETA's like the "tip of the spear" on a lot of issues: they get people talking and aware of an issue - albeit in unusual and sometimes ways - but then the stage is set for other groups to actually work to affect change in their communities.

That being said, the day PETA disposes of animals using blood sports, steel jaw traps, using pets as "bait" to train other animals to fight, etc. is the only day that the cockfighters can draw a comparison at all between the two groups with any shred of credibility at all.

"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness."  - John Kenneth Galbraith

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by: countrycat @ Thu Mar 15, 2012 at 16:44:09 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Parody? (4.00 / 3)

Is this legit, or a parody?

This guy isn't an English major, for sure.

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by: Doggone @ Thu Mar 15, 2012 at 15:14:44 PM UTC

I don't think it's parody (4.00 / 1)

It's a glimpse of the other side of this issue, the folks who raise chickens to fight and see nothing wrong with it.  I was glad to see it here because it offers an opportunity for a reasonable, respectful discussion ... and the injection of a few facts into what is an emotional issue for many.

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Thu Mar 15, 2012 at 15:34:29 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I don't have to say a thing...y'all have said it for me. (4.00 / 1)

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by: Gayla @ Thu Mar 15, 2012 at 20:11:32 PM UTC

Maybe it's just my upbringing but I cannot get too up in arms over cockfighting... (0.00 / 0)

Dogfighting - where you have a domesticated animal capable of caring and even defending humans - is a different story. That doesn't mean chickens should suffer. They shouldn't. But roosters naturally fight. Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Honest Abe all participated in cockfighting. I'd rather make cockfighting safer (i.e. no steroids, perhaps scoring instead of killing, no spurs and so forth) than ban it all together. And even better I'd rather focus our efforts on making the chicken that people eat safer and more humane.

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by: bluebearcat @ Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 07:00:30 AM UTC

factory food (0.00 / 0)

all the comments on factory food are pertinent. ground up overage egg laying chickens are x percent protein. protein is an essential ingredient in cattle feedlot feeds. waste not want not. you are what you eat. regarding chicken fighting, sure it comes naturally with them. we've got a flock of about 35-40 egg layers, and we raise a lot of chicks each year. got 4 running around with a mama hen now, first of this season's chicks. got more getting ready to set. as the grow we'll have a lot of young roosters. they fight but for a few seconds, not to the death. the winner chases the loser away. the loser runs off, finds a hen the bigger rooster isn't watching, and pops her. we catch the excess roosters and give them to a family with a lot of kids to feed and not a lot of income. cockfighting is always going to be with us -- it comes with the territory. feed stores have shelves full of medications and feeds and other products used. money talks. 

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by: ivan @ Fri Mar 16, 2012 at 11:42:31 AM UTC

I hear banjo music; row faster! (no offense Countrycat) (4.00 / 1)

That has to be the absolutely most reason-deprived diary in the history of LIA.  There is no reasonable defense of cockfighting or dogfighting or bear baiting or any other "game" that pits animals against each other for sport. "Roosters will fight naturally", I'm hearing.  No crap...every male animal in the lower species and many in the species homo sapiens will fight. It has to do with mating and dominance.  But strapping spurs onto an animal trained and bred especially for the purpose is immoral, stupid and now illegal.  Penalties should be much higher, but maybe in that far-off day when actual civilization takes root in our rich Alabama soil, we will see some changes.

Only after the last tree has been cut down. Only after the last fish has been caught. Only after the last river has been poisoned. Only then will you realize that money cannot be eaten. Cree Nation Tribal Prophecy

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by: piggieheart @ Sat Mar 17, 2012 at 15:06:42 PM UTC

now piggieheart.... (0.00 / 0)

I want to point out that you have issues with "pig-related" metaphors so please be attuned to the tender sensibilities of the rest of us!

ahem....

Perhaps you've forgotten my status as a student of that great instrument... the BANJO?????

Let us not even consider that the noble art of banjo playing and the gruesome pastime of cockfighting are in any way related!

 

"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness."  - John Kenneth Galbraith

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by: countrycat @ Sun Mar 18, 2012 at 02:52:45 AM UTC

[ Parent ]