I was wrong in thinking cockfighting was legal in Georgia
back in the 1950s. It was banned in the state in 1933. Here
is part of a newspaper article on a cockfight raid in Barrow
County (located between Atlanta and Athens) in 2004:
Officers found large groups sitting in circles inside a shed
deep in the woods as bloodied roosters, with curved steel
spurs attached to their legs, tore at one another. The
unlucky losers were discarded in a heap to the side.
Money changed hands. Beer flowed freely. Someone manned a
grill outside. But what most unsettled Barrow County Sheriff
Joel Robinson were the children. More than three dozen of
them. Some barely months old cradled in their mother's arms;
most about 4 or 5 years old, hiding behind adult legs when
officers arrived.
"That got to a lot of the officers," Robinson said. "All the
kids down there, being exposed to all of this at such a young
age." More than 24 hours after the raid, authorities on
Monday night were still processing some of the 260 people
arrested. The participants were charged with cruelty to
animals and gaming.
The owner of the property, Larry Otis Fleming, and his wife,
Misty, both 32, remained in custody Monday evening. The
couple had purchased the property in March 2003, according to
records. They lived on a single- wide mobile home on the
premises.
"They held these events almost every Sunday, unless it rained
or if it was cold. And they charged, I think, $10 for
attendance," Robinson said. Officers recovered about 138
fighting roosters. They also found six dogs, but don't
believe they had been forced to fight, said Maj. Murray
Kogod. Ninety-three cars, some with tags from Florida and
California, were seized. Only 20 of those were from within
the state.
Cockfighting is illegal in many states, including Georgia,
where it was outlawed in 1933. Still, gamecock farms in
places like Hawkinsville and LaGrange advertise in trade
magazines like Grit and Steel.
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