Fighting cock, Biliran. June 2016
[from FB post: June 21, 2015]
(Bacolod)
There is a morning rooster market near my hotel where guys come to sell their birds for cockfighting ... fascinating place to walk by... lovely birds, too. (Filipino cock fighting is more like sumo... the birds don't get hurt, it's just until whichever bird is pushed out of the circle first).
I read my blog post and then realize how naive I was about cockfighting in the Philippines. I honestly thought it was just two birds aggressively flying at each other (maybe with some pecking) until one was driven from the ring. I even assuaged the concerns of my animal rights friends in their comments by saying "Oh it's not that bad". After I talked to JRC on that visit, I found out - in fact, it WAS pretty bad. In reading more on the subject I came across this description of it from someone's travel blog. I believe the guy sums it up very well:
...it’s worth noting just what a big deal the “sport” is to Filipinos. Every town and village has its own arena, and there is even a television station devoted to it. Owners and trainers can earn vast fortunes, and it’s so deeply ingrained in their culture that accusations of cruelty simply don’t register with the average Filipino.
... I’ve got to admit, it is brutal. There’s no way round the fact that it’s two cockerels with razor sharp blades strapped to their legs pecking each other with relentless testosterone-fuelled rage. Having said that, I had expected it to be even worse carnage. In most cases the birds aren’t allowed fight to the death, and fatalities are actually quite rare. Outside the cockpit (yes, it’s where the word comes from) there are medical areas where the birds can be patched up to fight another day. But, again, it can’t be denied, it’s brutal. Part of me wanted to hate it, but I can’t deny that I got a rush from watching the gladiatorial combat — and, if I backed the right bird, I could turn a profit on the evening. Like so many other things we enjoy, there is always a mental compromise, an internal conflict. Those cheap trainers you love that were made in a Bangladeshi sweat shop? That tax you saved that could have benefited the common good? Or the pig you killed being enjoyed by a happy crowd of habitual meat eaters…
His last points are hard hitting and I would like to add to his examples of hypocrisy, "boxing". What is the difference with scooping up some guy out of poverty and turning him into a boxer where he probably will end up with brain damage (and a lot of money)? Never mind, "he is well-taken care of" so it's all ok in the end? Why would animal rights activists be horrified by roosters who are "well taken care of" (in a blood sport) yet not be MORE horrified about fellow humans doing essentially the same thing?
Filipino favorite son, Manny Pacquiao, world champion ex-boxer is just that. He is in EVERYTHING including politics since he retired from the human cockpit. One look at his positions on some issues and it's fairly clear the man took a few too many blows to the noggin. From grinding poverty via blood sport he is now a force to be reckoned with. Is it just that the roosters can't sign lucrative sponsorship deals and hold public office that we feel cockfighting is so objectionable?
Sometimes I think we focus on animal rights mainly because we can't accept how cruelly we treat each other and how foolishly we accept the consequences of turning that blind eye.
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