From The New Mexican:
The movement to have New Mexico join 48 other states in outlawing cockfighting suffered a serious setback Tuesday when a Senate committee voted effectively to kill two bills that would have prohibited the centuries-old spectacle in which roosters battle to the death.
The article tells that during the debate cockfighting was compared to other evils like gambling and tobacco, that it leads to domestic violence, harms children, and was silly to outlaw when we’re killing people in Iraq. It also was, or wasn’t, part of the Hispanic tradition:
Others argued that not all “traditions” are good. Yvonne Boudreaux said at the same time New Mexico was being settled by the Spanish, “You could sell children. You could stone adulterers. You could burn witches. Do you want to go back to that?”
New Mexico and Louisiana are the only states that allow cockfighting.