Roosters rescued from cockfighters can usually be rehabilitated to live like normal chickens with their hens in a place where they lose their fear of abuse and enjoy foraging in the soil, sunbathing, dustbathing, perching in trees, and socializing as Nature intended.
Also read: Another Major Criminal Cockfighting Pit in Kentucky Shut Down
Red Jungle Fowl painting by Barry Kent MacKay
UPC President Karen Davis’s Letter to the Editor appears Jan. 15, 2021, in
Voices of Monterey Bay, a nonprofit online news source serving California's
Central Coast. The letter is a response to
“Quieting the rooster chorus,” by Royal Calkins, Jan. 10, 2021 regarding
the response of Monterey County officials to the campaign by SHARK & HFA to
crush illegal cockfighting in the county.
To the Editor:
Thank you for covering this important milestone in the effort to eliminate
illegal cockfighting in Monterey County (and elsewhere). Contrary to the
claims of cockfighters, roosters bred for cockfighting are not born
surrogates for their trainers. Roosters rescued from cockfighters can
usually be rehabilitated to live like normal chickens with their hens in a
place where they lose their fear of abuse and enjoy foraging in the soil,
sunbathing, dustbathing, perching in trees, and socializing as Nature
intended. We currently have four roosters rescued from cockfighting
operations in our predator-proof outdoor aviary in Virginia. Over the years
we’ve adopted roosters from raids in Mississippi, Alabama, and Virginia.
I hope this new task force will effectively curb staged cockfights in
Monterey County. Studies of feral chickens, such as the McBride study of
flocks off the coast of Queensland, Australia in the 1960s, report that
roosters are busy foraging, raising their families, and keeping an eye out
for predators: “No serious fights were observed,” the McBride researchers
wrote. (McBride, G., et al. 1969. “The Social Organization and Behaviour of
the Feral Domestic Fowl,” Animal Behaviour Monograph, pp. 127-181.)
Thank you for your attention.
Karen Davis
President
United Poultry Concerns
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