Hartford Courant
Letter to the Editor
7/20/02
No Reasonable Defense
For Cockfighting
http://www.ctnow.com/news/opinion/letters/hc-lets0720.artjul20.story?coll=hc%2Dheadlines%2Dletters
"Cockfight Violence: A Clash Of Cultures" [Page 1, July 14]
perpetuates an offensive myth: that efforts to end the barbaric
practice of cockfighting represent a clash of cultures with Hispanic
Americans.
Cockfighting is among the most egregious forms of animal cruelty, and
the overwhelming majority of Americans - regardless of culture,
ethnicity or race - condemn this abhorrent activity.
In Arizona, just prior to voters overwhelming approving a ballot
initiative to make cockfighting a felony, a statewide poll revealed
that 90 percent of Hispanics viewed cockfighting as "cruel and
inhumane" - registering a higher negative opinion of cockfighting
than Anglos, whose opposition stood at 88 percent. The survey also
found that the great majority of Hispanics disagreed that
cockfighting is an important part of Hispanic culture.
In New Mexico, one of only three states where cockfighting remains
legal, state Sen. Nancy Rodriguez, a Mexican American, has led
efforts to abolish these events with the enthusiastic support of many
other Hispanic legislators.
It's easy to understand why. Cockfighting is a barbaric practice in
which birds are drugged with stimulants and blood-clotting factors,
fitted with razor-sharp knives or ice-pick-like gaffs on their legs,
and placed in a pit to hack each other to death for amusement and
gambling. Wounds suffered by the birds commonly include punctured
lungs, gouged eyes, broken bones and other grievous injuries. Even
the winners sometimes die from their injuries.
Cockfighting, like bullfighting or dogfighting, is wrong wherever it
occurs. Culture and ethnicity provide no reasonable defense.
Wayne Pacelle
Senior Vice President
The Humane Society of the United States
Washington, D.C.
The Hartford Courant
Front page
7/14/02
Cockfight Violence: A Clash Of Cultures
In Puerto Rico, A Tradition Since Spanish Arrived
July 14, 2002
By MATTHEW HAY BROWN, Courant Staff Writer
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Jose Roberto Fiejoo remembers it as a
highlight of his rural childhood. On weekends, he would follow his
father to a barn near their central mountain hometown of Ciales to
watch fighting birds bite and claw at each other.
Now a labor attorney in San Juan, Fiejoo brings his young son to the
Club Gallistico de Puerto Rico, an air-conditioned, brightly lit
gallera on the capital's premier tourist strip. There they enter a
few of their 200 roosters each week in bloody battles that often end
in death.
Full story:
http://www.ctnow.com/hc-cockfight0714.artjul14.story
United Poultry Concerns, Inc.
PO Box 150
Machipongo, VA 23405-0150
757-678-7875
FAX: 757-678-5070
www.upc-online.org
(Cockfighting: Letter & Article: Cockfight Violence: A Clash of Culture - July 20, 2002)
|
|