Cockfighting an
incendiary topic in NM
Bills to
ban practice not likely to pass
Erica Molina and Ken
FlynnEl Paso TimesCHAPARRAL, N.M. --
Out here in the desert of New Mexico where cactus has a hard time surviving,
culture, political correctness and modern times are colliding.
Here,
cockfighting is legal -- a brutal sport that many say is a leftover cultural
tradition that should be eliminated.
Four bills were introduced into the
New Mexico Legislature this session to prohibit cockfighting, but none was
expected to be passed by the time the session ends at noon
today.
Cockfighters argue that it's a matter of tradition and simply
displaying the birds' natural killer instinct. Opponents call it cruel and
vicious and have been trying to get it outlawed in the New Mexico legislative
session.
"They think we're idiots and barbaric," said Luis Sevilla, 22, a
cockfighter and New Mexico State University senior. "We're just regular people
-- the same as everybody else. ... We understand a lot of people don't accept it
or like it."
One of the organizations against cockfighting is People for
the Ethical Treatment of Animals. "It's barbaric. It's brutal. It's sadistic.
It's archaic. It's ancient Rome alive and well in the good old United States of
America," said Martin Mersereau, a national spokesman for the group's domestic
animal division.
While the ban's impending failure is good news to the
cockfighters, they want people to stop vilifying them and their
activities.
"We don't want to impose our way of life on other people, and
we don't want other people to impose their way of life on us," said Ed Lowry,
who lives on the Otero County side of Chaparral and raises and fights roosters.
"We just want to be left alone."
Majority Whip Sen. Mary Jane Garcia,
D-Do–a Ana, has been trying to get a ban passed for several years. "It's a shame
to me we're one of two states in the nation that still has this as a legal
activity in the state. If it fails, I'll introduce it next year and the next
year until the ban gets through."
An Otero arena, called a pit, is about
15 feet square with a dirt floor, and is surrounded by a wooden, waist-high
railing. The Plexiglas skirt is mostly for the protection of the people in the
front rows when feathers begin to fly. Half of the railing is painted green, and
the other half red.
Although gambling is prohibited, fans of the roosters
shouted their preferences, green for the rooster on the green side of the pit
and red for the bird on the red side. Like Wall Street traders, the gamblers
hawked their choices, "Verde, verde, quien quiere el verde," (green, green, who
wants the green?) or "Rojo, rojo va ganar" (red, red's going to win) as they
mingled among the crowd, picking up $5 and $10 bills.
A line was drawn in
the dirt, and the fight began. The birds pecked fiercely and flapped their
wings, slashing into each others' flesh with sharp blades strapped to their legs
as the audience rooted for the fighter they had chosen. Cockfights can last only
a few seconds or as long as 15 minutes, and at least one rooster will probably
die.
Lowry said the conflict can be summarized as urban culture versus
rural culture. "When you live on a farm, you know about the nature of animals,"
he said. "When you raise animals for food, you have a different
perspective."
New Mexico and Louisiana are the only states that still
allow cockfighting. In New Mexico, it has been banned in several areas,
including in Do–a Ana County.
At the recent fight in Chaparral,
participants fought their roosters in the Mexican short-knife style -- the most
common of three kinds of fights practiced in the area.
In the Mexican
short-knife style, a short blade is strapped to the left spur of the two
roosters, and the animals have a 15-minute time limit. Other fights are the
Philippine short knife, similar to the Mexican short knife but without a time
limit. The Philippine long knife uses a longer blade strapped to the roosters'
left spurs. The gaff fight places a pair of sharp curved spikes on the roosters'
spurs.
"My birds can fight with any weapon," said Lowry, who has been
involved in cockfighting for about 35 years.
At his home is an area for
the 2-year-old roosters preparing to fight for the first time.
"They're
ready to rock," he said. "This is what God made them for. You can't have two of
these in a yard without having them tied up."
Opponents said this a poor
argument.
"This idea that they're just doing what they naturally do is
absurd; there's a whole process they go through to get the most aggressive
ones," said Viki Elkey, an Animal Protection of New Mexico campaign manager. "I
find nothing natural about shaving off their spurs and adding metal ones to
their feet."
But some cockfighters said the blades are appropriate and
necessary.
"A knife is a more humane weapon than letting them fight with
natural spurs," Sevilla said.
He said the roosters would beat each other
to death in a much longer and more brutal ordeal if left to their natural spurs,
which can grow inches long.
"Their argument that this is more humane
because it's quicker is the most bogus thing I've ever heard," Elkey
said.
She and others against cockfighting argue that it is not only
animal abuse but also involves gambling and drugs and promotes violent behavior
toward animals and people.
"These people who are getting joy from
watching animals tear each other apart in containment and bring their children
to get used to this kind of thing are doing society a grave disservice,"
Mersereau said. "It may not be apparent today, but certainly tomorrow. ... The
link between cruelty to animals and other forms of violence is well established
in law enforcement and medical communities."
Cockfighters take issue with
this, saying the practice can actually bring families together and keep children
out of trouble.
"They say we beat our wives and are drug dealers. They
say it contributes to violence," said Sevilla, who was "born into" cockfighting.
"I told them (New Mexico Legislature) I have no history of any of this. ... We
don't claim to be without faults, but cockfighting is not one of
them."
He is often joined at fights by his 4-year-old son, Luis Sevilla
Jr.
"I bring my son here and he knows that roosters fight, but he never
hurts other animals or makes them fight," Sevilla said. "In comparison, the
violence we're exposed to every day of our lives on TV, in video games and in
music, it pales because these are birds, not two people."
Cockfighters
say there will be two results if a ban ever passes.
"All they're going to
do is make us criminals" if cockfighting is banned, Lowry said. Others will
simply give up the fighting.
Lowry and other supporters of cockfighting
argue that cockfighting helps communities economically and its removal would be
a blow to businesses, including restaurants, feed stores and those who supply
the gamecock breeders with building supplies.
The economic considerations
have made passing a ban difficult, Garcia said.
"A lot of senators are
involved in it or their friends are, and they see it as an industry, a big
economic development," she said. "But it's cash money. Nobody benefits. The
state doesn't."
She said she would look into making sure the fighters are
licensed and have to pay a fee if they are to continue. This is a compromise
Lowry said he could be happy with.
"If you want to tax us, tax us. Just
keep it legal," he said.
Erica Molina may be reached at
emolina@elpasotimes.com;
546-6132.
Ken Flynn may be reached at
kflynn@elpasotimes.com; 546-6138