This article in the LA Times about the “sport” of cock fighting in the Philippines is the kind of thing that makes me embarrassed of my heritage.

Personally, I find the all fighting sports stupid, but maybe that’s because I just don’t get it. Really, I don’t. What’s so exciting about watching people pummel each other for fame, glory, or money? Then when you get down to the idea of dog and cock-fighting, IQ levels seem to plummet even further. Here’s a tasty quote from the article by Jorge Araneta, a coliseum owner, who is trying to explain that cock-fighting should be more acceptable than human boxing because chickens who fight one another to the death is “what comes naturally” to them:

This is a better proxy than human beings beating each other’s brains out. I pleaded with Ali to give it up after that fight.

Um, right. I feel bad for Ali and all, but give me a break! There is NOTHING natural about forcing chickens to fight viciously against one another. YOU (the human handler) are putting them (the chickens) in that position. In the wild, they might fight one another if survival or territory were on the line. But in the cock-fighting ring, they (the chickens) did not CHOOSE to enter that ring to maim or kill another chicken. They are fighting for your pleasure and greed, not for anything natural. Compared to human boxing, boxers make their own choices about entering the sport. Sure, maybe they also have some overzealous handlers, but when you get right down to it, they are (and are capable of) making the choice to enter or leave the sport. Last I checked, chickens who are in the sport aren’t making those decisions, their handlers are.

Here’s another brilliant quote from Manny Berbano, another supporter of the so-called sport and publisher of some magazine called Pit Games:

As long as the Almighty permitted intelligent men, created in his image and likeness, to fight in public and kill each other while the world looks on approvingly, it’s not for me to deprive the chickens of the same privilege.

My immediate thought upon reading that quote was: Are you serious? Did he just bring GOD into this? I really have nothing to say about this dude other than karma payback’s gonna be a bitch.

Categories: animals, news
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