Animal Use or Animal Abuse. Rooster’s nature to Fight- Cockfighting
Recently we photographed Danny Rogers & his birds; he is a bird wrangler, He raises and cares for all sorts of animals- specifically Roosters and Racing Pedigree Pigeons in Lockhart Texas. He raises the birds and sales them worldwide. It is illegal to fight roosters across the states. The word on the street is that it still happens in small towns and on Indian Reservations in the states.
He was recently featured on ESPN about Cockfighting. Rogers was under the impression when working with ESPN that they would show his part of the story. However they were focused on abuse of the birds.
Rogers breeds the birds, feeds them, cares for them then sales them. He complains that when the humane society or the animal activist groups seize the birds during an underground cockfight than they euthanize the birds. So instead of the birds have a fighting chance to live they are killed by the humane society.
"I can take this animal right here and kill him and eat it and nobody even thinks anything about it," said Rogers. "But, if I give him a fighting chance I'm some kind of weird type of person."
My experience with Roosters was to let the professional handle them or else I would get pecked! They are feisty but they sure are pretty.
Its ironic that the birds have so much aggression and are so popular as art – kitchen art around the world.
What is Cockfighting?
The combatants, referred to as gamecocks, are specially bred birds, conditioned for increased stamina and strength. Cocks possess congenital aggression toward all males of the same species. Cocks are given the best of care until near the age of two years old. They are conditioned, much like professional athletes prior to events or shows. Wagers are often made on the outcome of the match. While not all fights are to the death, the cocks may endure significant physical trauma. The birds are equipped with either metal spurs (called gaffs) or knives, tied to the leg in the area where the bird's natural spur has been partially removed. A cockspur is a bracelet (often made of leather) with a curved, sharp spike which is attached to the leg of the bird. The spikes typically range in length from "short spurs" of just over an inch to long spurs almost two and a half inches long.
Cockfighting- goes back in time The sport was popular in ancient times in India, China, Persia, and other Eastern countries and was introduced into Greece in the time of Themistocles (c. 524–460 BC). It is still popular in Peru, Mexico, Brazil, Southeast Asia, Pakistan and the Philippines islands.
Here is the ESPN piece.
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6529326
Photography by Natalie Cass & Raychel Deppe with FeatherFoto International.
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