Rescued from cockfighting ground in Chiba Prefecture. Crushed eyes, bloody heads, rings covered with blood.

In 2021, we, Animal Rights Center Japan, together with the animal protection group Cookhouse in Okinawa, identified the location of the cockfighting ground in Chiba Prefecture.

There were approximately 60 gamecocks in wooden cages, and some of them had their entire heads injured, with no eyes, had stitch marks on their heads, and had beaks cut in abnormal ways. Dead bodies were left abandoned, and we also found some bones laying around in the cages.

There was a place where 10-20 people could sit, and in the back room there was a circular ring, around which chairs with cushions were lined up, making it a cockfighting ground that could be viewed by about 20 people.   We provided this information to the police, and on January 13, 2022, we worked with the police to rescue 38 injured male gamecocks, having Cookhouse keep them. With the permission of the owner, we also rescued a hen who was paired up with a rescued male gamecock.

Looking for foster families and adopters

If you would like to be a foster family of male gamecocks in the right environment, not eating them, please contact us using the form below. Among 38, some are aggressive and some were used as underdogs. Cookhouse is also looking for foster families for their chickens already there. We do not hand the birds to everyone, but we are looking for someone who has a proper environment and can be trusted.

Cockfighting is illegal

Fighting male gamecocks is a violation of the Act on Welfare and Management of Animals and can be subject to penalties.

According to “Regarding cases that require breeding improvement guidance” (cases that may fall under abuse, or that may fall under abuse if left unattended) issued by the Ministry of the Environment in 2010 (2010/2/5, No. 10020500), “making animals fight” had already been considered cruelty from back then.

Whenever making the birds fight, one of them will be injured or die. There were innumerable blood splatters on the walls of the circular ring of the cockfighting ground, indicating that the animals were seriously injured during fights. It was indeed a bloody wall.

This applies to latter statement of one of the punishment provisions embodied in the amendment of the Act on Welfare and Management of Animals ”Article 44: 2. To make an unnecessarily assault or perform an act that may cause trauma to its body”. If you put two male gamecocks in the same enclosure, they will always be hurt or killed. Without exception. Therefore, it is a violation of the Act on Welfare and Management of Animals the moment two male gamecocks are intentionally placed in the same enclosure, whether it’s cockfighting or not.

Cockfighting venues with rules have been reported, but this is also likely illegal. Because, even if the time is shortened or human intervention occurs when it becomes dangerous, the male gamecock can instantly poke the opponent’s vital point, kill him, or poke his eyes, or hurt his head. Human speed is not fast enough.

Cutting the beak is illegal

Cutting the beak is also a violation of the Act on Welfare and Management of Animals. Cutting the beak can be painful, but we’ve never heard of anesthesia being used for cutting the beak. The same is true for “shaving” instead of “cutting”. Especially in the case of cockfighting, it may be cut as shown in the picture below, which too deprives the animal of his original habits and makes it difficult to eat.

Not providing proper treatment is illegal

Article 44 of the Act on Welfare and Management of Animals also states: “an act of failing to appropriately protect a protected animal which he/she cares for or keeps and which has a disease or is injured, an act of caring for or keeping the animal in a facility which he/she owns where excrement is deposited or where the carcass of another protected animal is left as it is”.

The cockfighting venue was applicable to all of these items.

The injured gamecocks were not properly treated or protected. The wounds on their heads had evidence of being stitched with a thread by a non-veterinarian layman, which will be exacerbated by its improper treatment.

The excrement had accumulated and became like a rock.

The carcasses and bones of the gamecocks were left unattended.

Leaving animals in a place full of mites and lice is illegal

There is an item in Article 44 of the Act on Welfare and Management of Animals: “without reason, committed on a protected animal an act of causing debilitation through discontinuation of feeding and/or watering, exploitation of the animal, or restraint of the animal at a place where it is difficult to maintain its health and safety”.

All the gamecocks at this cockfighting venue were infested with excess mites. They propagated so much that the mites could be transmitted just by touching the food. And this is all year round. Even in the middle of winter, mites and lice protected by body temperatures were active.

If they continue to get blood sucked by mites and lice, gamecocks will be weakened and may get fevers. In addition, more mites infest debilitated birds, resulting in more debilitation.

It threatens human health even if not illegal

Some of the gamecocks at the cockfighting farm were so thin that they were almost dead. While not as much as in animal agriculture, this is a place where many animals with low immunity debilitating to death, and animals who will be debilitated, are bred.

This may be helping to spread viruses. Bird flu may come from such unsanitary and totally uncontrolled locations. However, there is no doubt that even if that occurs, it will not even be reported.

Cockfighting must be eliminated nationwide

Cockfighting is entertainment. It’s also gambling. Most of them are hidden and sneaky because of the involvement of illegal gambling. And this entertainment is carried out all over the country. All that is illegal. Because just putting male gamecocks in the same enclosure will cause the animals to be traumatized or die.

Animal Rights Center will make every effort to petition the government and make it known. To abolish this hidden illegal activity, a stronger message needs to be delivered, made well known that it’s illegal, and it needs to be scrutinized by the general public.

Requesting donations

We used donations from everyone to rescue the gamecocks. More gamecocks had been injured than expected, which costed us twice as much as expected. Animal Rights Center bears a lot of the cost of the rescue.

However, Cookhouse will bear lots of the cost to care for the gamecocks.

Please donate for medical expenses, labor, etc.

To Cookhouse:
Ryukyu Bank Nago branch #402
Account# 947522
Cookhouse

To ARCJ:
https://arcj.org/en/donate/

Mitsubishi UFJ Bank
Shibuya Chuo branch
Account type: regular
Account# 5968916
Account name: Certified nonprofit organization Animal Rights Center Japan
If donating to ARCJ, please indicate that it’s “for the gamecocks”. Or please indicate that on this from after sending funds.

Translation help thanks to Misaki T.