HYDERABAD, India (AP) – A man was killed by a rooster with a blade attached to his leg during an illegal cockfight in southern India, police said, focusing on a practice that despite ‘ a decades-old ban continues in some Indian states.
The rooster, with a 3-inch knife tied to his leg, waved in panic and his owner, 45-year-old Thangulla Satish, cut into his groin last week, police inspector B. Jeevan said Sunday.
The incident took place in the town of Telangana, Lothunur.
According to Jeevan, Satish was injured while preparing the rooster for a fight. “Satish was hit by the cock knife in his groin and started bleeding heavily,” the officer said, adding that the man was on his way to a hospital.
Jeevan said police had filed a case and were looking for more than a dozen people involved in organizing the cockfight. If convicted, the organizers could face up to two years in prison.
Cockfighting is common in the southern Indian states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, despite a nationwide ban imposed in 1960. Animal rights activists have long called for control of the illegal practice, which is mainly organized as part of local Hindu festivals. usually attended by hundreds of people, though the crowds sometimes swell to thousands. The cockfights are regularly held under the supervision of powerful local politicians and involve large sums of money.
Last year, a man was killed when a blade attached to his bird’s leg hit him in the neck during a cockfight in Andhra Pradesh. In 2010, a rooster killed its owner by chopping its vein in West Bengal.
According to police, the rooster involved in the incident last week was among numerous other roosters prepared for the cockfighting festival in the town of Lothunur.
As is commonly used, a knife, blade or other sharp weapon is attached to the leg of a bird to harm its rival. Such fights continue until one contestant dies or flees, and the other rooster declares the winner.
Officer Jeevan said the rooster was brought to the police station before being taken to a local poultry farm. “We may have to take it to court,” he said.
Images of the rooster tied with a rope and pecking pellets at the police station have been widely viewed on social media.
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