Cries in the Night - "Who's There?"

I recently spoke to a Conference of Gamefowl Breeders.  As with other
Gamefowl Breeders I have spoken to, they were some of the finest Americans I
have met.

Thinking of that meeting and all I learned, I was reminded of an incident
that happened many years ago in Brooklyn when I was a US Game Management
Agent stationed at Kennedy Airport .  A young lady was brutally raped and
murdered late one warm summer night on a residential street marked with open
windows as people tried to sleep.  Her screams and cries for help were heard
by many people, I seem to remember more than 25 people admitting to hearing
her, but no one came to her assistance nor even bothered to call the police.
Even hard-boiled New Yorkers were forced to experience some uncomfortable
introspection as the news accounts burst across their papers.  Many of us
are just as guilty of cowardice and self-centered disregard as those New
Yorkers as our neighbors call for help.

Gamefowl breeders are men and women all across this great land that enjoy
the traditions that their families have pursued for generations.  The
breeding and raising and feeding and care of gamefowl, or fighting cocks as
they have been called since colonial times in this land of the free, has
fascinated and been an avid pastime of Our Founding Fathers and
Revolutionary War heroes (some were even called "fighting gamecocks") down
to helicopter pilots in Vietnam and college professors.  Sons and grandsons
learn it from fathers and uncles and aunts and grandfathers who learned it
from their parents and grandparents.  Europeans and Asians and Pacific
Islanders as well as Central Americans and South Americans enthusiastically
share their unique interests in gamecocks with Europeans and Americans that
have practiced their brand of the sport for untold generations.

It is particularly sad to see that these mostly church-going, family folks
are being vilified like other minority scapegoats from "capitalists" in
Russia to minority farmers in Zimbabwe .  Because the communists wanted all
the "capitalists" possessed, they unfairly blamed them for every evil and
took all they had.  Because Robert Mugabe wanted all the farms to give to
supporters he unfairly blamed the farmers for every evil and took all they
had.  Because the animal rights radicals want to eliminate the ownership and
use of all animals, one of their first targets is the gamefowl owner whom
they unfairly accuse of every evil (drugs, gambling, animal cruelty,
domestic violence, etc.): then they solicit donations and assist politicians
and bureaucrats to grow government by passing laws and writing regulations
to further constrict American freedoms like private property and the use of
private property such as gamefowl .  The precedents are then applied to
hunting and trapping and fishing and poultry operations and cattle and, and
ad infinitum.  All the while the animal rights radicals grow in power,
influence, and finances just like the communist power brokers and Robert
Mugabe's supporters.

Some recent examples of gamefowl breeders are up against are:

- When New Mexico Governor decided to run for President recently he
initiated "feel-good" legislation to outlaw cockfighting in New Mexico and
his Legislature of the same party acquiesced.

- When a statewide ballot initiative to allow the continuation of
cockfighting in Oklahoma in several rural counties was defeated, the vote
was favorable in all the rural counties but they were outnumbered by
Oklahoma City votes (shades of New York , Illinois , New Jersey ,
Massachusetts , California , etc.).

- When Louisiana became the focus of corruption and inept management after
Katrina, and as state politicians wanted to take the focus off themselves as
they blamed everything on the Federal government, they passed a "never-fails
to divert attention" "feel-good" ban on cockfighting.

- As the Congress and the President fought (dare I say "like gamefowl"?)
over Iraq and the future occupancy of the White House, the Congress passed
and the President signed Federal legislation restricting the interstate
shipment (under murky conditions) of certain gamefowl.  (Note.  There are
reams of such "feel-good" environmental and animal rights proposals bulging
in the files of Congressional and Agency files waiting for the right moment
next year as the politics get white hot.)

Like the young woman on that long-ago Brooklyn street , gamefowl breeders and
users are being battered and are fighting for their very existence.  Instead
of some street thug, the "perps" are the environmental/animal rights
radicals (they are one in fact) bent on the destruction of the gamefowl
community before they then turn to the other animal user and rural
communities they detest so much.  Like the Brooklyn residents secure in
their beds, we look away or close the window or simply try hard to go back
to sleep.  Like those foolish Brooklyn residents, we not only abandon our
neighbor: we assure the further deterioration of our neighborhood and
increase the likelihood of our wife or daughter or ourselves being accosted
and perhaps losing our lives eventually as well.  Freedom is like the
security in our neighborhood, either we constantly defend it or we watch our
neighbor go and then our family and then ourselves disappear into the maw of
oppressive dictatorship.

Gamefowl breeders should have allies galore in their struggle against
oppressive government but others (who will be destroyed eventually by the
same forces) deny the connection to THEIR rights while hoping in vain that
if they remain quiet the wolves will go away.  Truly they are deluding
themselves.  The wolf that kills your calf is both emboldened and likely to
bring others with him the next time and make no mistake animal users and
rural communities are dealing with wolves both actually and figuratively.

Some candidate allies are just lazy and think that somehow their interest
will not be affected or they are rich and think it will make things better
for them.  There are the trout fishermen that support Invasive Species
programs to eliminate rainbow and brown trout in favor of bull trout and
Apache trout that will support little or no fishing.  They picture
themselves alone on Wilderness streams with the riffraff no longer around.
Then there are the elk hunters that support wolf and grizzly bear
infestations (excuse me, introductions) that are ruining their elk herds.
They see themselves in some Wilderness guides camp protected from the wolves
that sound nice around the fire and assured by their money of a big bull.
What about the horse owners that support Federal prohibitions on the right
of an owner to sell his horse to a slaughterhouse or for a slaughterhouse to
sell horsemeat or for a dog food company or restaurant to sell horsemeat or
for a dog owner or family to buy horsemeat or for an exporter to export
horsemeat to countries wanting to buy horsemeat?  They see themselves
telling their wives and daughters just how much they "care" and how they
"saved" horses.  Then there are the animal-experiment people that are
steadily backed down as record-keeping and species additions in regulations
slowly strangle their animal use.  How about the public land users (campers,
hunters, trappers, fishermen, etc.) that look the other way as Wilderness
and Roadless and Parks and regulatory restrictions force them into a corner
for eventual destruction like a Russian chess master in a tournament?  Then
there are the natural resource managers that know better but acquiesce to
support claims that the elimination of resource management and use results
in biodiversity and fire protection and healthy rural economies when the
exact opposite is the case. Last but not least there are the professional
public employees that kept quiet as standards and competitive government
employment were replaced with race and sex bonuses and ideologues committed
to the destruction of human benefits and the elevation of nature to a state
religion.  None of these would have made good allies anyway.  They are like
adobe bricks that when hit with a hammer turn to mere dust.

But there are some candidate allies that should look at what is happening to
gamefowl breeders because helping them is like helping yourself.  Those that
would look out and actually help their neighbor include:

Hunters that recognize a fellow animal user.

Farmers that see the precedent that will eventually be applied to them.

Loggers that see another group going through what they are going through.

Dog breeders that understand the principle of animal ownership.

Historians that have studied the growth of and loss of freedom.

Trappers that see arguments that are used against them word-for-word.

Culture warriors that are concerned about the destruction of our culture and
traditions.

Traditional parents that believe they should be able to teach their children
their values.

Our Forefathers that wrote and spoke so wisely and many of whom fought
chickens.

Oppressed people that see more people being unfairly oppressed by misused
power.

Political targets that rightly fear more precedents of government
discrimination.

Private property rights advocates.

Constitutional rights proponents.

Animal owners and users of all stripes.

Horse owners that have seen their rights cut.

Geneticists who see fellow experts and enthusiasts of this science.

Commercial fishermen aware of what the same forces are doing to them.

Rodeoers who recognize all the "usual suspects".

Campers who see the same forces closing roads and campgrounds all over.

People who regularly read my scribblings.

This partial list is made up of folks aware of what they are up against
themselves and why the rights of others are so important TO OUR RIGHTS.
This is the flint and stainless steel crowd.  Hit them with a hammer and
they will give off sparks and not even show a dent.  They know if they leave
it up to others it won't get done.

The longer we wait to stop this animal rights juggernaut, the harder and
more traumatic the reckoning will be.  Supporting private property rights
and protecting each other's rights are what we must do.  If we abandon our
neighbor to the evil forces of the night, we can only expect that soon it
will be our turn.

Jim Beers
23 August 2007

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- Jim Beers is a retired US Fish & Wildlife Service Wildlife Biologist,
Special Agent, Refuge Manager, Wetlands Biologist, and Congressional Fellow.
He was stationed in North Dakota , Minnesota , Nebraska , New York City , and
Washington DC .  He also served as a US Navy Line Officer in the western
Pacific and on Adak , Alaska in the Aleutian Islands .  He has worked for the
Utah Fish & Game, Minneapolis Police Department, and as a Security
Supervisor in Washington , DC .  He testified three times before Congress;
twice regarding the theft by the US Fish & Wildlife Service of $45 to 60
Million from State fish and wildlife funds and once in opposition to
expanding Federal Invasive Species authority.  He resides in Centreville ,
Virginia with his wife of many decades.