
Cockfighting is extremely popular in my country, the Philippines. In fact, it's a multi-billion peso industry, and if it were to be shut down, many ordinary citizens would be affected. It's said that cockfighting existed even before the Spanish conquest, which is why I believe it's deeply embedded in our culture and tradition, making it difficult to simply put an end to it.
Although many people say that cockfighting is cruel to animals, setting that issue aside and focusing on the event itself, I find it incredibly thrilling. The matches can be highly addictive—especially if you have a genuine passion for these birds.
Your thoughts?
In the picture it is very clear that the chickens pitted in the arena are equipped with sharp weapons or what is often called spurs. So they don't even give the chicken a chance to live after the fight, they just pit the chicken to death. This is totally unacceptable. And when someone loses in cockfighting, they not only lose their money but also their chicken because it dies.
While cockfighting may be thrilling and exciting for some people, it's hard to ignore that this is indeed animal abuse. But people have always associated this with the context of culture and tradition so that cockfighting continues to this day. But it is still a bad tradition and should be abandoned.