Baton Rouge, La. — Cockfights have drawn crowds to small-time pits and full-blown arenas around Louisiana for generations. Soon they'll be against the law.

On Friday, Louisiana will become the last state to outlaw the rooster fights, a move enthusiasts say could end a rich rural tradition.

RICHARD ALAN HANNON / Associated Press (ENLARGE)

Aaronn Coyne, 28, of Covington, La., bloodied after breaking up a match in Henderson, La., in July, waits for his second entry to be weighed. On Friday, Louisiana's cockfight ban takes effect.

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"The culture, the custom of the Cajun people, it's gone," said Chris Daughdrill, who breeds fighting roosters in Loranger, about 50 miles north of New Orleans. "It's another one of the rights that big government has taken away from the people."

Maybe, but supporters and foes agree the blood sport won't be wiped out entirely.

"They're still going to fight," said Elizabeth Barras, who with husband Dale ran a cockfighting pit in St. Martin Parish for 14 years. "They've still got cockfighting in every state. They just hide it."

The fights between specially trained roosters are held in large arenas or in backyards. The birds are fitted with sharp metal blades or curved spikes on their legs, and instinctively attack each other. The match can last over an hour, with one or both animals dead or maimed.

In banning the fights, Louisiana bowed to years of pressure from the Humane Society of the United States and other animal-rights groups.

High-profile defenders of cockfighting in Louisiana began softening their stance after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, seeking to improve the state's backward reputation.

Then-Gov. Kathleen Blanco — a native of Cajun country, where the fights have deep roots — signed the ban last year, closing a loophole in state law that excluded chickens from animal cruelty laws. First-time offenders caught participating in cockfights will face maximum $1,000 fines and six-month prison terms.

Though the ban takes effect Friday, it has been illegal since last year to gamble on cockfights — a separate law passed as a precursor to the total ban. Wagering is part of cockfighting's appeal, and the threat of state police raids pushed pit owners to close their businesses, Daughdrill said.

Congress last year toughened federal animal fighting laws and criminalized commerce in cockfighting weapons — razor-like blades attached to roosters' legs during fights. Transporting roosters or other animals across state lines for fighting was boosted from a misdemeanor to a felony.

Billy Duplechein, 38, of St. Martinville, said Louisiana's new law will criminalize a rich Cajun tradition. "We're losing ... an opportunity to keep our heritage."

But Daughdrill said he's attended many illegal cockfights in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, and "I can go up there on any given weekend and go to a rooster fight."