A man was killed by a rooster with a blade tied to his leg during an illegal cockroach fight in southern India.
The rooster, with 45-year-old Thangulla Satish, waved in panic last week and cut its owner, 45-year-old Thangulla Satish, in the groin, 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 a lot,” the officer said, adding that the man died on the 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.
Rooster fighting 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 mostly organized as part of local Hindu festivals, usually attended by hundreds of people, although the crowds sometimes swell to thousands. The cockfights are often 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 Lothunur.
As is commonly used, a knife, blade or other sharp weapon is attached to the leg of a bird to the detriment of its competitor. Such fights continue until one contestant dies or flees, and the other rooster is declared the winner.
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 picking pellets at the police station have been widely seen on social media.