By Myrna Guymer

Set neatly next to the cemetery in El Quelite are row upon row of small structures that resemble a miniature camp ground. Inverted ’V’ shelters house over 2,000 roosters. These magnificent crowing creatures are waiting to be bought, to fight, and probably, to die. Hector Enciso Saracho, who has had a fascination with roosters for 45 years, owns this breeding farm. He’s 55 now, so was just a boy when he was first attracted to the birds. “My father didn’t like that I was always with the roosters,” Hector said, holding one. These are not ordinary roosters though. They are fighting cocks. And this one like all the others raucously cock-a-doodling are destined for combat. Out of reach of the roosters, but close enough to tease, are chickens, each in its wire pen. From the breeding farm in El Quelite, just 35 kilometres (20 miles) north east of Mazatlán, these fighting cocks may be shipped to many places in the world besides throughout Mexico. Each cock rooster will sell for about 1,200 pesos ($120US), Hector said. One enthusiast said that four years ago in Puerto Vallarta, he paid $1,500US for one fighting cock. In 48 of the United States, cock fighting is illegal, but laws permit it in New Mexico and Louisiana. Licensing regulations ensure that sponsors of cock fights follow rules of this sport that tradition keeps alive. Cock fighting had its origin in Asia thousands of years ago. Through India, Europe and England it made its way into the Hispanic countries of the Americas. Types of fights and the rules for them vary and can be complicated to