A rooster fitted with a knife for an illegal cockfight in southern India has killed its owner. The incident also prompted authorities to look for the organisers of the event and penalise them for their actions.
According to reports, the bird had a knife attached to its leg and inflicted serious wounds to the owner when he tried to escape, the police said on Sunday.
The owner, Thangulla Satish, 45, died from blood loss before he could reach a hospital in the Karimnagar district of Telangana state, said police officer B Jeevan.
“Satish was hit by the rooster’s knife in his groin,” an area between your hip and stomach, “and started bleeding heavily,” the officer said, adding that Satish was one of 16 people organising the cockfight in the village of Lothunur.
“We are searching for the other 15 people involved in organising the illegal fight,” said Jeevan further.
The organisers could face charges of manslaughter, illegal betting and hosting a cockfight.
Cockfights are banned yet common in rural areas of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Odisha states, especially around the Hindu festival of Sankranti. Roosters fights attract large crowds and thousands of roosters die each year in the competitions despite the efforts of animal rights groups.
Organisers attach 7.5-centimetre, almost three-inch blades to especially bred rooster’s legs and bet who will win the fight. The fight continues until one rooster is either dead or fleas.
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.
