Blood sport

Habit is hard to break

CLEARLY, there are degrees to these things. Boxing is anything but sweet or a science. But gentlemen will watch a match. Mixed martial arts, however—in which fighters eschew boxing gloves and punch the other guy while he’s down—is just assault. An Arkie who takes to the deer woods in search of venison is taking part in a grand tradition that he can share with his progeny. A canned hunt for an old tiger confined by a fence is just cruelty. Degrees exist in life. Most people would understand.

So why can’t Arkies abandon this “sport” called cockfighting?

Cockfighting was discovered in the Philippines in the 1500s, so the sport is older than basketball or baseball. But it remains illegal in the more civilized places in the world. Even Louisiana— Louisiana!—has banned the blood sport, albeit only recently.

Now the papers say Sevier County deputies here in Arkansas have in their possession more than 100 roosters after a recent cockfighting raid. It seems some of the owners don’t want their birds back. And now the sheriff’s office is in a bit of a pickle, having to purchase feed with its own budget.

It’s not something we’d expect to see in a jail . . . inmates tending to impounded roosters. But that’s exactly what’s happening in De Queen at the detention center. One bird has tried to escape so far, a flight risk if you will.

Fans of the so-called sport don’t understand why it remains illegal. The New York Times once interviewed a man from Puerto Rico who’d been arrested in America’s biggest city for cockfighting. At the time, he paid hundreds of dollars to stash fighting birds at out-of-state farms so they wouldn’t be confiscated.

The man told the Times cockfighting was in his blood and had been ever since he attended his first match at the age of 6. He’d grown up raising birds for the sport, in which metal spurs are attached to the animals so they can more effectively kill each other.

Something must remain attractive about this business if Arkansans continue to participate. The last sweep saw more than 100 arrests, with suspects from Fort Smith, Little Rock, Pine Bluff and more. Some came from as far away as New Jersey.

It’s worth noting, authorities typically arrest everyone at these events, even spectators. They face charges of unlawful animal fighting.

In a bizarre twist, supporters of the sport will often point out the Founding Fathers supported cockfighting. Politifact looked into it, and the evidence is murky. What we do know is George Washington attended at least one cockfighting match in his life, written about in his diary.

It seems the threat of arrest isn’t enough to deter those who want to partake. So maybe tougher sentences is the answer. Something’s got to be done. Like dogfighting, this kind of thing lowers us all.

There are degrees to these things. Homo alleged sapiens should get that.