Sullia: A large crowd gathered at the police station here on Monday. It was not a protest against someone’s arrest or something of that kind.
Instead, they had rushed there on hearing the news that birds seized from a cockfight venue at Peruvody were being auctioned. Well fed and tended cocks had been brought to the spot to put their lives at stake for their owners’ benefit on Sunday.
As the cockfight has been banned now, the police from Sullia swooped on them. Besides seizing 41 birds put on stake, they also arrested 22 persons who were involved in the betting.
They were kept in the old premises of the police station for a day until disposal. On Monday, the police obtained permission from the local court to auction them. The public response was much beyond their expectations.
The country-bred birds are in high demand for their meat value. As the news spread, a huge number of ‘chicken special’ enthusiasts began bidding. The fleshy ones went on a higher scale between Rs 500 to Rs 2,000 each. The crowd grew in size as more people joined to just watch the show out of curiosity.
Thousands of rupees were raked in during the process. It is not known if the proceeds would be handed to the court for further disposal or be credited to the government treasury.
It is the said to be the biggest seizure at any cockfight in the region in recent times and even the proceeds of the auction the largest.
Disgusting!! I don’t know what is worse here! Making birds fight to death OR slaughtering them for ‘naalige chapala’!! One day in future, human civilization will look back in disgust at how we treated animals and birds for thousands of years!!