Depending on where you live, you may find it easy to assume that cockfighting is not only illegal everywhere, but has been for as long as you can remember.
However, The Boston Globe reported that there are various nations throughout the world where the sport remains legal and in the case of the Philippines, it’s the reason for a massive five-day event that sees 600 matches take place every year.
And it’s also worth noting that just because cockfighting is legal in a given country, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen there. As the newspaper further reported, it’s still not unheard for police to raid facilities on American soil that host hundreds if not thousands of gamecocks.
So whether it continues as an appeal to tradition or due to the draw of gambling revenues, cockfighting is not a sport that we’re likely to see eliminated anytime soon.
And as we’ll see in today’s story, it not only persists in spite of the severe consequences for the animals involved and the risk of legal repercussions, but also in spite of risks to the safety of the very people holding these events.
Much like in the United States, cockfighting is banned nationwide in India and has been for decades.
But as Al Jazeera reported , that doesn’t stop it from becoming common enough in the rural regions of states like Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Odisha that the sport is responsible for the deaths of thousands of roosters every year.
And according to The Boston Globe , it’s not uncommon for gamecocks to be euthanized after they’ve been seized because they’ve been bred and trained for combat and can’t be rehabilitated.
At certain cockfights, it’s not uncommon for breeders and owners to tape blades like the one we see here to their rooster’s leg to give it an advantage in the fight.
And as KLFY reported , a 45-year-old did exactly that with a three-inch knife during a cockfight held at Lothunur, a village in the Karimnagar region of Telangana.
But after he did so, the bird would end up flailing in panic.
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During this flailing, its owner who has since been identified as Thangulla Satish received a cut on his groin that quickly bled out.
And according to Al Jazeera, Satish bled out so quickly that he died before he could reach a hospital in the region.
As he was one of 16 people responsible for organizing the event, police are now searching for the other 15.
As for the rooster, it is now living on a poultry farm after police officers briefly kept it at their station.
As an officer named B. Jeevan told Al Jazeera, “We may need to produce it before the court.”
It remains unclear what fate will befall the bird after the case against the other cockfight organizers is resolved.
Should they be apprehended, the other 15 organizers could face charges of manslaughter, illegal betting, and hosting a cockfight.
According to Al Jazeera, this doesn’t mark the first instance of a cockfight participant being killed by their own bird.
One man in West Bengal died when the blade on his gamecock’s leg severed his jugular vein in 2010 and another man in Andhra Pradesh died under similar circumstances last year.
h/t: The Boston Globe , Al Jazeera
