Cockfighting.
This will *not* be a post about boys in locker rooms -- that's sword fighting.
This will *not* be a post about adding new pets to the menagerie.
This *may* be a post taking a hard line stance based on the fact that my ancestors put a major hurt on a lot of chickens (at the farmers' market, in a restaurant, at family gatherings, in the poultry processing plant ... and they were all delicious, each and every one of them).
This *will* be a post that actually (and sadly) is applicable to other locales, as a quick google search for an image demonstrates (see links below).
This *is* a post about a big ring that got busted outside of Miami this week, resulting in hundreds of arrests and major fines for animal cruelty, naturally, but also for serving liquor without a license and for illegal gambling.
And it's created an interesting reaction. Those arrested claim as a defense that "it's part of our culture" and that they should be allowed to practice it -- which sounds eerily familiar to the excuse given for dog fighting in rural communities in the deep south -- an unpalatable one in both scenarios, in my opinion.
To be clear, I'm not overly Fox-newsy-hard-core about the immigrant experience as I happen to know the name of the boat on which my father's people arrived ... and I'm pretty sure my mother's folks came after them ... but I file this in the "welcome to our country ... where you don't slaughter goats in your back yard ... or watch roosters peck each other to death for 'sport'".
THE MIAMI BUST:
http://www.wsvn.com/story/25344615/hundreds-face-judge-after-cockfighting-bust
THE WASHINGTON STATE BUST:
http://www.veooz.com/news/4H78Rxt.html
THE NYC BUST:
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Thousands-of-Birds-Seized-in-Cock-Fighting-Bust-Queens-Brooklyn-Plattekill-244647331.html
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