From staff and wire reports
SANTA FE, N.M. - Don't mess with the cockfighters.
That's what New Mexico Rep. Delores Wright, D-Chaparral, learned after proposing a bill to outlaw the practice.
After being deluged with opposition to the bill, Wright voted against her own measure Thursday in the House Agriculture and Water Resources Committee.
The bill ended up on the short side of a 5-3 vote, and Wright said she would not try to bring it back.
``This was a wake-up call,'' she said. ``In 26 years of living in New Mexico, I didn't realize there were so many bird fighters.''
More than 40 cockfighting supporters packed a committee room to protest Wright's bill. They testified that pitting two gamecocks against one another in a ring - and watching them fight to the death - is not only a legitimate sport but a business and a way of life.
``It's a family oriented endeavor,'' said Fernando Viramontes, the president of the New Mexico Game Breeders Association. ``I'd rather my children raise gamecocks than hang out and join a gang.''
Viramontes said there is an entire economic community that relies on cockfighting. Without the sport, he said, many feed stores would go out of business, and many gamecock breeders would be out of work.
Elisabeth Jennings, executive director of Sangre de Cristo Animal Protection Inc., countered Viramontes' testimony by passing out to the committee pictures of mutilated fighting birds. She also showed the House members the razor-sharp spurs that are attached to a cock's leg for a fight.
``This is a heinous act,'' Jennings said. ``These birds are outfitted so they can rip each other's bodies apart.''
Brett Johnson, R-Clovis, was among those voting with Wright against her bill.
``This is a rural issue that the people from the cities don't understand,'' Johnson said. ``I have more fighting chickens than registered voters in my district.''
According to Jennings, New Mexico is one of five states where bird fighting is legal, although several counties in New Mexico have outlawed the practice.
There are no specific statutes against cockfighting in Roosevelt, Curry, Quay or Union counties, according to local district attorneys' offices.
But Dave Reeb, an assistant district attorney with the 9th Judicial District, said one state statute regarding injury to animals - including ``domesticated fowl'' - could be used to prosecute in some cases of cockfighting.
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