Banning of cockfighting in Puerto Rico: assessing public support and opposition

Cockfighting was banned across the U.S. territories in 2018. While animal activists praise this legislative success, the Puerto Rican government and much of the public have been vocal opponents, asserting the ban undermines culture, reflects congressional overreach, and hurts the economy. This has led to minimal ban enforcement which has allowed the social problem to flourish on the island. We ask what drives public support for cockfighting and whether policy changes could improve ban support. We theorize the answer by integrating value-belief-norm theory with Agnew’s integrated theory of animal abuse to create the supported prosocial violence against animals framework, suggesting that in contexts where animal harm is prosocial rather than deviant, personal traits, socialization and cultural normalization, communal strain, and a lack of institutional control foster broad public support for cockfighting by tapping into core values and encouraging the adoption of beliefs and norms that validate animal cruelty. We test this theory using a survey of 511 Puerto Rican residents. Our findings suggest that rather than treating cockfighting as deviant, effective interventions must address its normalization, economic role, communal significance, and prosocial dynamics.