• Two men stand in a rink, holding a chicken in their hands by their feet. They drop the chickens and run out of the rink. From there it is an all out battle between the chickens (http://hsus.typepad.com). The end is declared when one chicken lays dead, some gamblers happy but, others aren’t. c**k fighting is a felony in all states, but Hawaii might make it legal because it’s considered a cultural activity. I think cockfighting should be considered a felony because it's brutal to the cocks, promotes illegal gambling, and would attract many c**k fighters to Hawaii if made legal.
    The Oahu Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said that it is inhumane to c**k fight. c**k fights are when two chickens are forced to kill each other, just to win some money for the gamblers and their owners. This will slowly decrease the population of cocks with a death every fight. Fighting cocks are raised terribly. The owners sharpen their claws, to deeply injure the other c**k in a battle, but sharpening the claws pains the chicken. They are also fed grains, ground meat, vegetables, milk, and all with supplementary vitamins. They also attach blades to their legs to increase damage on every kick. c**k fighting is very brutal to the cocks.
    c**k fighting is a very serious gambling matter with all the bets on the cocks. The police department stated that it is one of the most common types of gambling on Oahu. When people gamble it can be a great possibility that they will lose all their money. This will put people on the street and homeless. Also gambling can be very dangerous. There are even movies about gambling people and they get chased down or betraying people's trust to get the money to pay back their debts. This isn’t just in movies, it happens in real life. There are street fights over debts, and if the population increases in cockfighting then there will be way more fights. However, when people gamble and win and win then more cocks will be bought meaning more fights and there will be rich people since they are lazy gamblers.
    If this law is passed it will attract many people that want to cockfight. There will be tons of c**k fights because when people find out that c**k fighting is legal, and they know they won’t get in trouble, they will come here. That also means the population in cocks will decrease. As I said previously, gambling may cause fights so if there are more people then there will be more fights. Also it means more dead cocks and more c**k breeding.
    I acknowledge some of the reasons why cockfighting should be legal, but cockfighting should still be illegal. It might help the economy by increasing population/tourists, but most of those people will be c**k fighters not tourists. They won't be there to tour the island, they will be there to c**k fight. People consider it a cultural activity and some say it’s just as cultural as bon dancing, but, “Bon dancing doesn’t leave one thing dead in the end.” (http://hsus.typepad.com) Also people say that they enjoy cockfighting, (http://hsus.typepad.com) but it still leaves a c**k dead which isn't fun for the c**k. Also people enjoy doing bad things so just because it's fun, it doesn't mean it's good or the right thing to do. c**k fighting should be illegal and should not be legal for any reason.
    c**k fighting should be illegal because it is too brutal, promotes gambling, and will attract c**k fighters. 260 communiques even said they don't want c**k fighting to be legal out of 280 (http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/2010/03/Hawaii-cockfighting.html).
    Even if people enjoy c**k fighting it should still be illegal, think about the deaths of the cocks, no living thing should have to fight for their life by force.

    Works Cited
    “Hawaii Resolution Lead Credence to c**k Fighting.” Los Angeles Times. 2010. 2 July 2010
    (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2010/03/hawaii-resolution-would-lend-credence-to-cockfighting.html).


    Pacelle, Wayne. "c**k Fighting "Cultural"? Some Hawaii Lawmakers Say So." A Humane Nation. 2010. The Humane Society of the United States. 28 Jun. 2010 (http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/2010/03/Hawaii-cockfighting.html).


    “Ranking of State c**k Fighting Laws.” Animal Cruelty. 2009. The Humane Society of the
    United States. 29 Jun. 2010 (http://www.hsus.org/acf/fighting/cockfight/state_cockfighting_laws_ranked.html#Hawaii).


    Shimabukuro, Alicia and Pace, Pohai. "Cockfighting." 2006. Anthropology 200. 29 June 2010 (http://windward.hawaii.edu/facstaff/dagrossa-p/anth200/Fieldwork%20Papers/Cockfighting.pdf).