I’m struggling to understand and believe a quote from a cockfighting supporter published in this morning’s Albuquerque Journal.
Vincent Otero of Moriarty said during yesterday’s Senate Conservation Committee hearing, according to the newspaper, that cockfighters care for their “feathered warriors,” and said their “love and devotion to these animals should be admired and respected.”
Love and devotion? To breed an animal to die violently? To cheer as yours goes up against another and they slash each other to death with sharp metal? To smile with pride as yours cuts another’s throat, or punctures its lung, and to watch as the opponent’s bird takes its last breaths and blood spills?
That’s love?
To gasp while yours gets its throat slashed? To stand silently as it takes its last breaths? To then breed another to take its place and eventually die the same way?
That’s love?
If that’s love, should we start fighting our dogs? How about our children? We love them, don’t we? What about our elderly grandparents? Should we strap Freddie Crougar blades onto their hands and watch them go at it in the streets while we cheer and drink beer?
I can picture it now…
“Way to go grandma! Look at that old bag of bones gasping for air in the streets! See him crawling toward the sidewalk while blood runs from his neck? He’s about to die! You showed him!”
But seriously: People actually do fight their dogs. It’s illegal. And there are still corners of
Society doesn’t accept dog or child or grandparent fighting. If cockfighting is about love and devotion, what’s the difference?
I don’t understand. I’d be happy to publish a guest column from a cockfighting supporter who can intelligently articulate this argument. E-mail me at heath@haussamen.com.
I want to understand.