U.S. bans cockfighting in Puerto Rico but Trump Jr. gets to kill endangered sheep | Opinion
Let’s see: The United States is trying to force Puerto Rico to give up cockfighting but Donald Trump Jr. gets to kill endangered sheep in Mongolia for kicks.
Ah, Americans!
We are notorious for being cruel to our own and other nations’ animals, but when it comes to the habits and traditions of other cultures we have not an ounce of tolerance or understanding.
Whether it’s bullfighting in Spain, the south of France, and Portugal or cockfighting in the Caribbean and Miami, we come down hard on the practices in the name of standing up to animal cruelty.
Neanderthals!
Savages!
Barbarians!
Look in the mirror, I say.
If you have the stomach, search #hunting #huntingseason on Instagram and see the relish with which mostly white men and women kill beautiful animals and proudly pose for photographs with their so-called trophy.
I hate in equal measure all of the violence whether it’s hunting for sport, bullfighting, or cockfighting. But what I’m addressing here is the capacity of Americans to wear blindfolds when it comes to their own sins and shortcomings, starting with Trump Jr.
In the name of sport, the president’s son kills without a permit a rare argali, an endangered sheep that lives in Mongolia — and we’re legislating to ban a 400-year tradition in Puerto Rico that dates to colonial times. It’s also an industry that employs thousands of people and generates hundreds of thousands in revenue on the island commonwealth.
I get it. The cocks attack each other and draw blood with their spurs. One of them usually ends up dead. People bet on which one wins the fight.
Gross on several levels.
But so is the trophy-hunting the American first brothers are so fond of, not unlike the rest of the nation’s 13.7 million hunters. The great majority of them use rifles, shotguns or handguns, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Sounds like mass slaughter to me.
I’m angered and repulsed by all those deer, bears, and whatever game you shot with your semi-automatic weapons — cowards! — only for the macho thrill of it. And you display the evidence on the tacky walls of mountain cabins rising from sea to shining sea.
Florida black bear hunt
There’s nothing more cruel than what happened to Florida’s black bears in 2015 when the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission allowed a trophy hunt that resulted in more than 304 dead bears in the short span of two days.
Gruesome debauchery.
Hunters slaughtered 40 nursing moms and left 100 cubs to starve and die. And, of course, the namby-pamby in the bunch, in addition to their guns, used baits illegally to attract bears into firing range.
Wounded bears could be heard howling in an audiotape played before the commission, which had to shut down the hunt.
This year, faced with overwhelming opposition, the agency decided to tackle in less cruel ways (science and conservation) controlling the growing population of bears in the wild.
Saved, but only for now.
They didn’t learn a thing: They left the door open to future hunts.
No, USA, you don’t have the moral authority to pounce on Puerto Ricans.
Trump Jr. kills argali
Not when First Son Donald goes on a summer hunting trip to Mongolia with his young son Donnie and shoots a gorgeous argali, a national treasure, at night with a laser sight, while the animal was sleeping, ProPublica reports.
He also killed a permit-only red deer during the expedition, purchased at an NRA auction and under security paid for by U.S. taxpayers.
After he’s done the illegal deed of hunting without an official permit rarely issued, Trump Jr. then visits the Mongolian president, gets special treatment, and he’s issued a permit after the fact, days later.
Thanks to the records and testimony of guides gathered by ProPublica, we know that Trump Jr. stopped locals from dismembering the dead animal and instructed them to haul the carcass on an aluminum sheet so as not to damage the horns and hide.
Sounds like someone is mounting a trophy over a new argali rug in another rendition of “The Tacky Houses of the Rich and Famous, Special Edition: Rare Species.”
And, we’re outraged when Puerto Rican roosters go at it in the name of islanders making a living?
In hopes of blocking the federal government’s ban on cockfighting, which supposedly takes effect Friday, Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vazquez has signed a law to try to save the industry. But it’s unclear what it can do. It may only lead to a protracted legal battle.
And meanwhile, no doubt, some cockfights will go underground, as so often happens in Miami and elsewhere in the United States where there are consumers and fans.
It’s sad for the roosters, bred to be aggressive and fight to death. Animal rights advocates PETA and ASPCA rightfully call cockfights “a blood sport.”
But, before mainland Americans knock Puerto Rico for wanting to keep its cockfighting heritage and industry alive, we should take a real good look in our animal welfare mirror.
The only difference is that our Neanderthals, savages, and barbarians are people of privilege.
It’s a bloody view, too, in the USA.
This story was originally published December 19, 2019 at 6:00 AM.
