Cockfighting

Organized cockfighting has been called the oldest sport in existence. Although this claim is impossible to prove, anthropologists believe that chickens were domesticated as early as 3000 BCE and that fighting them for sport also developed around the same time. Organized cockfighting has been practiced all over the world with historical accounts of cockfighting appearing among the ancient Romans, Greeks, and Syrians. Cockfighting was introduced to the United States by the British during colonial times.

Today, cockfighting is still a popular activity and is currently practiced in almost every country. It is most popular in North and South America and Asia but has limited acceptance in Europe. In the United States, the sport has a small following, but a majority of the country views cockfighting as immoral. Although there is no federal law that prohibits the fighting of birds, it is illegal to transport animals, including birds, between states for fighting purposes. The sport of fatal fighting in America primarily involves two animals: the fighting cock and the pit bull dog.

Like members of other deviant occupations, cockfighters have developed their own ideologies to deal with the stigma of legal harassment and public condemnation. These ideologies are used as mechanisms for maintaining the status of those who are members of the occupation and to more immediately counter the attacks of outsiders. This ideology has five points of counterattack: (1) condemners are hypocrites, (2) the sport has a long history, (3) cockfighters are respectable citizens, (4) the sport preserves traditional values, and (5) the sport allows self-actualization of an animal that was born to fight. Persons who piously condemn cockfighting are seen as hypocrites who will attend sporting events such as boxing. Boxing, they point out, is inhumane because the object of the event is to hurt a human opponent. Cockfighters point to the long history of their sport. They are also likely to note a number of influential and respected historic figures who were involved in cockfighting (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln) and the respectable people who are involved today. And finally, their most used argument is that these animals are natural fighters and have been bred to do so. Any attempt to prevent them from fighting will make them miserable, and they will not reach their potential as birds. Dogfighters make similar arguments.