Chicken Boat

In the Sunday Edition of the Tennessean they published an article on Cockfighting, you know the chickens. I thought this was very interesting since the state had a major "bust" of a cockfight consisting of over 236 people. This happened in Hohenwald TN a few weeks ago.

To me it seems like everyone has an opinion about the chickens. In our nation's past our founding father's participated in the sport, and so did King Henry the VIII. I realize that in Tennessee the main reason why the sport is banned is because there is gambling involved. I seriously doubt if lawmakers are concerned over chickens dying in a bloody battle. After all they are just chickens.

If they did care about the well being of every single chicken in the state they would be more rigid in their regulations concerning the massive chicken farms that fatten up the poor chickens so they have insanely large breasts. I know that every person wants to eat a 5 lb chicken breast. The farms keep thousands of chickens cooped up in a single building with a constant flow of food. And here we were thinking that our jails and schools were over crowed. Be glad your not a chicken on a meat farm.

The Fighting Chickens are naturally inclined to fight in order to establish dominance and rank amongst themselves. Even if you have happy chickens they will fight. They are born with this inclination. It's just like rams butting heads but with spurs not horns.

I think this is a huge opportunity for the state of Tennessee. They could make the sport legal and rake in the revenue. It would need to be heavily regulated, no razors, or gaffs, and possibly not fighting till the death. People pay up to $100 to register their chickens at these illegal fights, at the fight gate fees range anywhere from $15-20 a head, and then there is concessions and souvenirs to be bought. That's not even including the side money people would spend on travel, hotels, and dining. Even the breeders would help by spending money on chicken feed and other chicken husbandry needs. It is a great chance for Tennessee to make money hand over fist.

Instead of seeing this rise in popularity of Chicken Fighting as a blessing and a great opportunity they are seeing it as inhumane. It is true that I do not approve of killing to the death, and the razors they attach to the chicken's spurs to make them more able to kill with ease, but these issues can be regulated. Gambling is another issue, but I think if we have a lottery we could allow people to bet on chickens. It's no worse than betting on dogs or horses.

Instead of making people travel across state lines they could allow some gambling at events and see the revenue pile up. Gambling is allowed only on water for some silly reason in other states. So build a chicken boat on the river. That would increase tourism. I don't think any other state has a Cockfight boat. It could spur a whole new industry.

Now I'm asking you, What is your opinion of cockfighting? Do you think it could be regulated? Would you ever attend a cockfight if it was legal?