Here’s a follow-up to an earlier blog entry on cockfighting. As reported the only state in the Union where cockfighting is still legal is in Louisiana, which gleaning from an observation from an unhappy breeder himself may eventually change in the near future. But the southern neighbors, the Mexicans, are quite steeped in its practice, are now more attuned to and conversant with it, and thus, nothing indicates that it will go away any time soon from that side of the border.
This slow-paced attrition in the US will soon spell doom to this particular industry, particularly the breeders who supply the fighting cocks for this sport. Northern California has its share of breeders whose prospects of survival clearly now hang precariously. And from what we can gather, over the years the breeders’ clientele has shifted from domestic to outside sources. Essentially now consisting of Mexicans, either permanent or temporary US residents, and Filipinos, again either now residing here or those who come here purposely to purchase fighting cocks or those for breeding.
Remember cockfighting is not only legal in the Philippines but is a healthy and thriving industry, which on the upside, generates a lot of employment and allied services. The downside, of course, is that many may say, it is a cruel and inhumane treatment of the fowls being used; and an even bigger debilitating issue, because it is gambling, a zero-sum enterprise that afflicts and destroys from among the numbers of the richest and the poorest., so pervasive that the remotest barrio in the remotest province is not spared from its pernicious practices and influences.
But the reality is, it is not also going away soon in the Philippines. Instead as earlier noted it is gaining momentum and adherents. It is commonly understood there that cockfighting which used to be limited during Sundays and important holidays, is now sanctioned almost daily in many parts of the country.
This development then throws open the opportunity to engage in a business created by an ensuing vacuum. It is easy to imagine how one may be able to serve one of its needs, and in the process reap some bountiful profits.
One possible area would be in cock breeding, which is in my estimation an easy business to learn and which requires comparatively modest capitalization. Except that the expected returns are phenomenal, given the very stiff local prices for fighting cocks, especially those with foreign bloodlines.
Yesterday, we had the good fortune of visiting two breeders located in two different but contiguous towns here in Northern California.
The pictures we took give a rough overview of the physical set-up of a breeding business that boasts of 5k cocks and hens, but mostly of the former.
