The People for Animals Goa (PFA) has written to Curtorim police station to register a complaint and conduct an immediate investigation of a “Cock Fight Tournament” that was announced to be held in Chandor on February 28th.
This news comes just weeks after the state was grappling with illegal bullfighting cases. “To put an end to this menace, it is critical that all proposed animal fight events, including cock-fights, are investigated on a war footing. We request you to register a police complaint and initiate an investigation at once.” PFA wrote in their complaint.
A poster giving an open call for entries to the “All Goa Cock Fight Tournament” was being shared on social media which was proposed to take place on February 28 in Chandor with details of entry fees and monetary awards for winners on the poster.
However, police officials from the Maina-Curtorim police station, said that no such event was organized on Sunday. “The message was distributed among a certain friends’ circle but no such fight has taken place on Sunday. We will take action in case there are any cockfights,” an officer said.
Cockfighting is a sport in which two cocks or roosters go up against each other in a ring which is called the Cockpit. The roosters have a small sharp knife or a blade attached to their legs, through which they try to inflict wounds on the other.
The fight is deemed to be over only if either one of the birds is injured badly or if one of them dies. The bird doesn’t need to die during the course of the fight but the injuries caused are usually so severe that it more often than not leads to the loss of life for the innocent birds. The birds which get into combat with each other are famously referred to as ‘Gamecocks’.
Cockfighting was banned and termed illegal in India for the first time in the year 1960 after the implementation of the Prevention of Animal Cruelty Act in the country. The ban was then upheld quite a few times by the judiciary, most notably by the Supreme Court of the country in 2015.
Section 11 (l) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 clearly states that “anyone who organizes, keeps uses or acts in the management or, any place for animal fighting or for the purpose of baiting any animal or permits or offers any place to be so used or receives money for the admission of any other person to any place kept or used for any such purposes.”
Andhra Pradesh High Court in the year 2016 also declared Cockfights as illegal in light of Section 11 (l) of PCA stating that “Sadism and perversity is writ large in the actions of the organizers of these cockfights. The event is meant not for the well-being of these cocks/roosters, but for the perverse pleasure of human beings, particularly the organizers and spectators, who enjoy watching these birds savagely attack and maim each other, forgetting the intrinsic worth of these animals.”
