BARBADIANS are only beginning to taste the negative effects that cockfighting and dogfighting can have on society.
The chief inspector at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), Wayne Norville, said this yesterday while reacting to the DAILY NATION report on Tuesday about the fear residents of Ferniehurst, Black Rock, St Michael, were experiencing because of “illegal activities” in their neighbourhood on weekends.
Norville said that for more than 30 years he had spoken against cockfighting and dogfighting, but still those activities seemed to have touched almost every district in Barbados.
“I am glad to see that the police finally decided to do something about it because this has been going on for years . . . . the Black Rock Police Station is not a mile from Fernihurst. This has been going on for years; I have been complaining about this for such a long time. It’s no wonder the folks are getting uneasy . . . . what they are seeing is what I knew would have happened eventually,” he said.
Norville said that as long as there was cockfighting and dogfighting “you are going to have betting”.
“And as long as you have betting, a person is going to do anything to protect their investment, which usually leads to violent reactions.
“I am certain that there are weapons, guns, at dogfights and cockfights.
It has now reached the point where some people are getting nervous because when you let something like this get out of hand and you do nothing about it for all of those years, what do you expect?
“People from all over Barbados go to dog and cock fights; women take their children to dogfights and cockfights. So when you see children exposed to violence and blood at such an early age there is no reason why a child wouldn’t go to school and crack a child’s head and stab another child with a pencil,” Norville said. (AH)
