In fact, members of parliament from certain constituencies in the south Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have called for a lift on the ban on cockfighting. They organized protests last week against police anti-cockfight drives. Protesters broke into an official meeting of the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee and demanded the transfer of the Superintendent of Police K. Raghuram Reddy.
Cockfights take place for four days before and after the Makar Sankranti and Pongal festival, and it is considered a prestigious event for rich families to host a cockfight.
Prices of fighter cocks can rise thirty-fold in the days leading up to the festival, and the birds are fed cashews, almonds, maize and groundnuts, to make them competitive. This isn’t surprising considering that organizers could make over $100,000 in a single fight from gambling revenue.
Prohibited under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act by the Indian penal code, cockfights are nevertheless a part of the festival traditions in certain regions in South India. Among the many hundreds of varieties of cocks, about 20 are used in the fights.
