America’s Rooster Men THE VANISHING BREED

By Manny Pinol

Salinas, California – There was a time in the Philippines when a good-looking fighting rooster was called either “Texas” or “Americano.”

This was right after World War II when the Americans brought to the islands the game birds and the old backyard poultry lines like the Rhode Island, the White Leghorn, the New Hampshire and the Plymouth Barred Rock.

The backyard chicken breeds soon disappeared and their bloodlines diluted by unprogrammed and unguided cross-breeding with the local chicken.

But the game birds’ breeds were propagated and improved, thanks to the happy and carefree spirit of the Filipino men who considered their fighting roosters as the extension of their macho image.

Every rooster man wanted to bring to the pit the bravest rooster, the meanest fighting machine and every victory was celebrated by feasting on the meat of the vanquished chicken which was usually cooked as “adobo” paired with gallons of “tuba.”

The fighting rooster became part of the Filipino way of life that even great literary figures in the Philippines, like Alejandro Roces, immortalized them through beautiful literary pieces.

The American gamefowl breeders were idolized by Filipino gamefowl enthusiasts and their names were mentioned with so much respect – Duke Hulsey, Johnny Jumper, Madigin, Ray Alexander, Bobby Boles and the others.

The name of the breeds were also memorized by Filipino gamefowl enthusiasts and anybody who did not understand the difference between a Roundhead and a Hatch, or a Whitehackle from a Grey was considered an ignoramus.

America was the home of cockfighting and the laboratory where the most outstanding and fightingest breeds of gamefowls were developed.

Anecdotes have it that the American’s fascination of the sport almost led to the gamefowl being declared as the country’s national breed.

Gamefowl history also says that Abraham Lincoln, who became one of America’s greatest Presidents, was a gamefowl enthusiast.

But while cockfighting became a legitimate sport in the Philippines where government even sanctioned it and collected taxes and the industry developed into a multi-billion-peso business, rooster fighting in America took a nose-dive as many states started passing laws declaring it illegal.

For a while, there were several states which were predominantly Hispanic which held out and resisted attempts to criminalize cockfighting but the relentless campaign of animal rights activists steamrolled over them.

Today, cockfighting is illegal all over America. In fact, in some states, just the mere possession of a rooster whose crown and wattles have been trimmed is a felony because it is an indication of an intent to commit a crime which is to fight the rooster.

Cockfighting, however, remained a national passion in both Mexico just south of midland America where most of the gamefowl breeders are and in the Philippines where every year a national spectacle called the “World Slasher Cup,” considered as the Olympics of cockfighting, is held twice every year at the historic Araneta Coliseum.

American gamefowl breeders, disallowed to fight their roosters in their own country, pursued their passion for the feathered warriors by going to either Mexico, where the fights are in the short knife, or the Philippines where the action was faster because of the long knife.

The Americans also found a lucrative business out of their passion – they continued breeding the gamefowls selling their improved breeding materials to Mexican or Filipino gamefowl breeders.

Some of them still breed roosters which are brought to the two countries where they are fought.

Of course, these breeders are walking the high-wire but many of them are taking the risk because of the lucrative business.

Outstanding breeding materials are considered a gold mine.

In fact, at the height of the popularity of the Sweater breed, a family of this line was sold for $5,000 per trio, meaning one rooster and two hens.

But while breeding gamefowls is a lucrative business, the number of gamefowl breeders in America is thinning with so many of them refusing to take the risk of being hauled to jail.

For those who raise roosters because of pure love and passion, this is a sad chapter in the history of American farming where a group of farmers who find joy and profit from raising chickens which fight against each other are prevented by law to pursue their desires.

There were efforts earlier by American gamefowl breeders to challenge the law but being a largely disorganized group of eccentric old and rural Americans, their efforts proved no match to the well-funded and well-orchestrated campaign of the animal rights activists.

“The time will come when the children of American farmers will just have to look at old pictures and listen to the tales of their grandfathers to know what a gamefowl is,” said one American breeder.

Well, they have an option – they could go to either Mexico or the Philippines where the campaign of the so-called animal rights activists have been overpowered and muffled by the almost daily cries of the “kristo” or the bet-takers in thousands of cockpits all over the country.

“Nueve, nueve!, lo-diez, lo-diez, diez-siete, diez-siete,” these shouts will always drown any opposition to this national passion.

(Photo caption: American gamefowl breeder Larry Carter holds a hen which belongs to the old line Hulsey Pumpkins. Other lines being bred by Carter are the White Hulseys, the Golden Greys and the old Richard Bates Greys.)