Fighting cock kills police chief during raid

A police chief was killed during a raid on an illegal cockfight after a rooster’s blade sliced his femoral artery.

Reports said that Lieutenant Christian Bolok and his team raided an illegal cockfight in the central province of Northern Samar. The cop picked up a fighting cock as evidence.

However, the rooster, with its blade still on, attacked Bolok and struck his left thigh. The police chief bled to death, said provincial police chief Colonel Arnel Apud told AFP.

“It was an unfortunate accident and a piece of bad luck that I cannot explain,” Apud said.

“I could not believe it when it was first reported to me. This is the first time in my 25 years as a policeman that I lost a man due to a fighting cock’s spur.”

Also read: Confiscated roosters from illegal cockfight cooked into chicken adobo in Valenzuela

Fighting cock kills police chief during raid

Apud added three people were arrested, and two fighting cocks seized along with two sets of spurs in the raid in San Jose town where Bolok was the police chief.

Cockfighting, locally termed sabong, is a popular pastime in the Philippines, where both illegal and legal cockfights occur. Legal cockfights are held in cockpits every week, whilst illegal ones, called tupada or tigbakay, are held in secluded cockpits where authorities cannot raid them. In both types, knives or gaffs are used.

There are two kinds of knives used in Philippine cockfighting: single-edged blades (used in derbies) and double-edged blades; lengths of knives also vary. All knives are attached to the bird’s left leg, but depending on the agreement between owners, blades can be attached on the right or even on both legs.

Sabong and illegal tupada, are judged by a referee called sentensyador or koyme, whose verdict is final and not subject to any appeal. The kristo usually takes bets, so named because of his outstretched hands when calling out wagers from the audience from memory.

The government had implemented a ban on cockfighting when the COVID-19 started in the country to prevent mass gathering and virus transmission.