Friday, July 18, 2014

Rooster Myth-Busting Part 2

This is a continuation to the article Rooster Myth-Busting Part 1. We list here some Myths about cockfighting that are circulating amongst non-cockers.

Myth 11 - Cockfighting is a sport ONLY for poor men.
Reality - This is not true. Actually, cockfighting is the sport where racism and aristocratism aren't present. The rich and the poor are both on equal footing. They rub elbows and treat each other as equals.

Myth 12 - Unless forced to continue, roosters will eventually stop fighting when they get tired.
Reality - During a fight between wild roosters, there will come a time when they will tire out and stop fighting, but this isn't a sign of surrender or submission. Once he catches his breathe and sees his opponent again, he will continue to fight. This will continue until only one is left. A rooster's natural instinct is to reign over his territory, so no matter what happens, he will fight any other rooster that he sees.

Myth 13 - Cockfighting is just a passing phase.
Reality - Cockfighting has been around since ancient times, even before Christ. Depictions of fighting roosters have been seen in ancient artwork and books from all corners of the world. We have more examples in another article here on this site titled "Gamefowl History".

Myth 14 - As proof that we train fighting cocks to fight each other, only the roosters are aggressive and not the hens.
Reality - This statement is absolutely incorrect. Aggressiveness or the will to fight of the fightingcocks are not just present in mature cocks but also in hens and stags (young cocks). The hens have a different reason for fighting, not for being the only one in a territory but to establish a pecking order in a flock. The young stags will start to fight when they reach adolescence. They will start fighting then give up, then fight again. Once they reach the peak of their adolescence, they will fight till the death. This behavior is manifested without training.

Myth 15 - Cockfighting is animal cruelty
Reality - Not letting a creature do what he is naturally wired to do is cruelty. Gamecocks are hard wired to fight and kill any other rooster he sees. Arming the roosters with blades is actually more humane than letting then beat each other to death for hours on end.

Additional tidbit: In 1782, heraldic expert William Barton was entrusted to design the great seal of the United States. Barton's first choice was to use a rooster as the bird on the seal. Other options were a Phoenix, an Eagle and a Dove. The rooster design was just too complex according to Barton so he replaced the rooster with the Bald Eagle.


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