Fighting Cock Kills Police Chief in Philippine Raid

FILE - In this Oct. 19, 2003 file photo, man bets during a cockfight in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico will defy the U.S. government and approve a law to keep cockfighting alive in a bid to protect a 400-year-old tradition practiced across the island despite a federal ban that goes into effect this week, officials confirmed late Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Walter Astrada, File)

MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — A Philippine police officer was killed during a raid on an illegal cockfight after a rooster’s blade sliced his femoral artery, an official said Tuesday.

Cockfighting is a popular blood sport in the archipelago where money is bet on the outcome of a fight — often to the death — between two colorful birds armed with bladed spurs.

It has been banned along with other sporting and cultural events during the coronavirus pandemic to prevent large crowds from gathering and spreading the contagion.

Monday’s freak accident in the central province of Northern Samar happened when Lieutenant Christian Bolok picked up a fighting cock as he gathered evidence of the unlawful event.

Its blade struck his left thigh and he bled to death, 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."

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, Apud added.

Categories / Entertainment, International, Sports

Subscribe to our free newsletters

Our weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.