New Mexico on the verge of banning cockfighting

[stonebone]

A proposal to ban cockfighting cleared its final hurdle in the Legislature on Friday, sending the measure to Gov. Bill Richardson to be signed into law. Richardson has indicated he will sign the bill, which would leave Louisiana the only state where cockfighting remains legal. The measure won final approval when the Senate agreed to a technical amendment made by the House.

The bill making it illegal to fight roosters passed the state House on Thursday on a vote of 49-20. Supporters of the ban have said cockfighting has made New Mexico a laughingstock.

"It's time to send a signal that New Mexico is not going to be in the same boat with Louisiana on this issue. Many of us are quite frankly horrified that we allow this to continue to happen in our state," said Rep. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe.

Richardson, who is seeking the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, has thrown his support behind the ban for the first time. His backing this year, and that of the state's Roman Catholic bishops, is credited with giving the bill the momentum it lacked in previous years, when it failed.

"I am proud that New Mexico will now soon move beyond cockfighting and join the 48 states that have already banned this outdated practice," the governor said after the vote.



http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_5403987

[ComerPerro]

1. better late than never I guess

[EFerrari]

2. Those birds are so beautiful. They are like feathered jewels.

We had to deal with some when a tenant left them behind. You can't let them out of their solitary cages or they just start killing each other. That all by itself is horrendous. They can't socialize without aggression. :(

[terrya]

3. What a horrible "sport"

Welcome to the 21st century, New Mexico.

[Firepit 462]

17. Tell me about it,

The truly sad part of this is the fact that if Bill wasn't running for president in 08, there would still BE cock fighting here. Bill needs to be the Gov. who ended cock fighting, not the Gov. OF cock fighting.

It's sad he didn't care one way or the other untill it affected his political future.

[durrrty libby]

4. I had no idea that it was legal anywhere

It's disgusting what some people call entertainment

:spank:

[tblue]

8. From Wikipedia:

In the United States cockfighting is illegal in Washington, D.C. and all states but New Mexico and Louisiana.


I had no idea either. :wtf:

[Esra Star]

5. Where has the SPCA been all these centuries?

[Beaverhausen]

13. They've been fighting to get it banned- and it worked

[RB TexLa]

6. Fine Peter Wirth, get the F%#& out of our boat

And there are DUers who still try to say that people in America care about Louisiana and New Orleans. What a joke.

[leftofthedial]

7. well, shit

now what will they do on Saturday night?

[Telly Savalas]

9. It was a hard fight against stiff opposition from Big Cock

to get this bill through the legislature.

[Colobo]

10. It's completely legal in Puerto Rico, which is part of the US

It's very respected down there. My neighbor raised fighting cocks.

[Colobo]

11. Check this out

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2007/01/25/cockfighting_still_popular_in_puerto_rico/

[RB TexLa]

12. No one in Louisiana fears chicken rights groups either

[EFerrari]

14. I wish more people would have the experience that I did.

I had to "clean up" after our tenant's last cockfight. And that meant handling still warm corpses of the most beautiful birds that you've ever seen who had been left for dead.

:(

/oops

[Colobo]

15. I've seen the fights live

I'm not a fan of that stuff, but I understand the cultural importance of it for Latin America and US states with historical Spanish influence like Louisiana, New Mexico (even here in Florida is done illegaly) and Puerto Rico (U.S. colony).

[EFerrari]

16. Blood sport is part of every nearly culture. We outgrow it.

:shrug:

If any of my padrinos came to me and told me they were involved in this mierda, I'd kick their @sses.

[slampoet]

18. I have had the opportunity to meet three different men who raised Cockfighting chickens.

Two guys were over 70 and everyone was retired (they said). All of them only did it when it was legal in their area though one guy admitted he raised his in one state and drove to another nearby.

I also have grown up on enough farms to know that the birds used in cockfighting wouldn't live longer in the barnyard because they would just be extra roosters and one thing that always happens with extra males on the farm is that they are killed off young and tender for the meat. Cow Goat Sheep etc.

But even with that knowledge, setting up a cockfighting event is an obvious perversion of something that roosters do naturally,
which is fight.

Someone put it to me this way.


"Why can't they just have the cockfighting that we have in our country?"

"What kind is that?"

"You don't plan this sort of thing. Just when a couple of roosters start fighting in the street, people start betting each other money."


Isn't that the only kind that should be legal?

Besides, where do you stop? One of my oldest friends has a rescue dog that is still really meek and scarred after all these years. It's a pit bull/ terrier mix that was a "bait" dog for pit fighting. The dog is a great powerhouse, the kind of dog you would love to take horseback riding to see how fast she can go but unfortunately she's too screwed up to deal with any other animals besides humans and can't stand most other dogs plus can't take bicycles, scooters, barks at wheelbarrows.......you get the picture.