BATON ROUGE, La. — Animal rights activists in this state where traditions die hard have given up for now a battle to pass a bill banning the centuries-old practice of cockfighting.

"We've been trying to get this thing passed for years, and we'll probably try again--but not in (this) legislative session," said state Rep. Garey Forster (R-New Orleans), who sponsored two bills, one banning cockfighting and the other requiring that chickens be labeled as animals instead of fowl so Louisiana's cruelty laws can be applied to cockfighting.

Both bills were defeated recently by 2-1 ratios in the House Administration of Criminal Justice Committee.

Proponents of a ban on rooster fighting, who may bring their cause before the Legislature again if it meets later this year, argue that, not only is the practice inhumane, it is bad for Louisiana's image.

"Only three other states besides Louisiana--Oklahoma, Arizona and New Mexico--allow cockfighting," Forster said. "It's an archaic practice that sets a bad example for our kids and makes our state appear backward."

But cockfighting supporters, many of whom traveled to the Legislature from remote areas of Louisiana, said rooster fighting is a way of life that pumps about $2 million a year into the state through the buying and selling of roosters, feed sales and the money spent at hotels, restaurants and bars near the sites of organized cockfights.

"People who are involved in it feel very strongly about it," said state Rep. Raymond (La La) LaLonde, a Democrat from Sunset. "This is part of their culture and heritage, and they're not going to give up on this issue without a fight."

Although cockfighting dates to ancient Persia, it was not introduced into North America until the late 1700s. Massachusetts was the first state to ban the breeding and training of gamecocks, in 1836. In the next century, more than 35 other states followed Massachusetts' example.

But, in Louisiana, cockfighting has proved to be a particularly sacred tradition because of its widespread popularity among the state's Cajuns, who settled in the fertile bayou lands of southern Louisiana after leaving the French colony of Acadia in the mid-1700s. They have celebrated cockfighting as a part of their culture almost ever since.

"It's not the sort of thing that was introduced from the outside as a commercial venture," said Patricia Rickels, an English professor and folklorist at the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette. "It's as much a part of Cajun life as festivals and dancing."