Click image to enlarge.

Click image to enlarge.

Click image to enlarge.

Click image to enlarge.

Click image to enlarge.

This is the sad end of a proud rooster. It fought for its life but lost the battle. A "cook" will remove the feathers and the owner of the cock can pick it up when he goes home. It took this guy less than two minutes to remove all the feathers.

Comments

[mikel]

nice pics! my dad goes to these cockfights but i haven't seen the dressing of the fighting cocks.

[max]

compare this to the number of chickens slaughtered by fastfood chains ...

[Alicia]

So disturbing that the animals were killed just for our entertainment.

[david]

i think i've used up my list of superlatives to describe this series. a fitting end i suppose to a truly fantastic storyline - more than worthy of publication!

[outdoorexposure]

just 2 mins really quick work...so professional:-P another great series

[cool daddio]

Cock fighting is illegal here but like gladiators I might prefer to go out fighting. Certainly a better life than the majority of chickens raised for food crowded in our chicken factories.

[Ashish Sidapara]

Fascinating series, its sad but true!

[don]

Great color and this series has tremendous impact.
A strange practice, but many things we humans do are very strange if one is not accustomed to them.

[19 Seconds Of Spring]

Huge post... :) The last 4 pictures are great!
Michael

[bw]

The photos tell a story.. This is what it is for centuries and some people may not like the blood and find the sport too cruel.

[Ferdz]

It just amazes me how you get images like these. Now I know how the loosing cocks end up. It's very journalistic and informative. Do the owners eat them after? I heard fighting chickens have hard meat.

[Ces]

To Abaniko:

Yes, we have buried our roosters and chickens in the Philippines. When we were children, my parents raised chickens in the range. They were free to roam. We played with some of them, mostly chasing them away or playing with their chicks. We raised a rooster named "Maes". Maes lived for a long time. He was a beautiful cock. My brother groomed him to be a fighting cock but never engaged him in any fights. When he died we burried him in our pet cemetery. We burried the Mother of all Chickens "Elma" and we burried a chicken name "Camba". Any animal that we give name, we bury when they die of old age. We burried a pig named, of course, "Piggy". The butchers were waiting. It would have fetched them several thousands of pesos. My parents took one look at my brothers and sisters and told the vet to wait for its death. Then we burried her. My parents told us to stop naming animals. Christening the animals cost a lot of money! :-) As kids we knew that naming the animals saved them from the chopping block!!! :-) :-) :-) However, I really think that my parents were special.

[fabio]

We eat the pollo habitually, but to see them while they come bubbled in that way comes wants to become vegetarians.

[Christian]

Now, i know how the loser cocks end their life.

please: I have to mention my personal info daily in spite of the fact i select "remember .."
can you explain me why ?

[melsantos]

SID,
i was in the Phils. from the 11th to 21sept. i went to visit my wife's relatives in Nueva Viscaya and they live half a block from the cockfight arena. i was asked by my bro-in-law to attend the cockfight. i did go but will never return back and experience it again. it is so loud, noisy and bloody. people are cursing, i don't know if they are cursing the rooster or the referee and the ones taking the bettings are like the stock market people shouting for the bid. but ur pics are nice.

[pieterbie]

A sad end. At the wrong end of the food chain, I guess.

[Sidney]

Toxic Lens: Well observed. This is the foot where the gaff(blade)was attached. The blades are very expensive. After the fight the leg with the gaff is just cut off. The body goes to the cook and the leg to the owner of the blade who will clean it and sharpen it again.
You can see that in my entry of September 15 (fifth picture)
http://my_sarisari_store.typepad.com/my_sarisari_store/2006/09/click_image_to__4.html#comments

[Abaniko]

Really, it's sad for the rooster. After being caressed by the owner for "grooming" before fights and winning big bucks for him in the previous lucky matches, the badly wounded or killed rooster will be dressed unceremoniously, cooked and eaten. I think all roosters (and chickens for that matter) end that way. I have yet to hear of a dead rooster being buried in the Philippines. :)

[Solaria]

Great detail and color!

I am guessing that's the best way to ensure your meat is fresh!

[Toxic Lens]

I noticed many of them are missing a foot... Has the winner taken it for a trophy?

[fabrizio]

I wonder of yours pictures!
great work Sidney

the only bad is your server, very sloe

[Wim van der Meij]

It is a cruel world Sid. Thanks anyway for this fascinating sequence about the cockfights.

[Mike Dougan]

Amazing series of photograph's Sydney. Very informative. I used to want to go and see a cock fight, now I'll pass on the experiance!

[Ces]

I often wonder why these men think they can expose their bellies in public whenever they feel like it. (top photo). I noticed a lot of them did it while walking down the streets. Is it a sort of "airing the tummy"?

As for the proud cocks these photographs show what they are - just chickens. But why men have to subject them to cruelty before consumption is beyond reason.

[johnz]

I was in Tunisia a few years back and stopped at a road side cafe with some locals and I witnessed--the locals were keen on me seeing the process--the proprietor go into a pen, pick out a lamb and with in an amazingly short perior of time about 8 folks were sitting down to dinner; it is kind of sad these proud (looking) birds end up this way