I was horrified to see the terrible, illegal sport of cock fighting in Isaan last week. There are normally forty drunk men standing in a ring watching the man whilst as many as ten male chickens are thrown in. He must despatch them in as short a time as possible.
There is gambling involved and many a family is left destitute after a single session when unwise bets are collected by the unrelenting local mafia.
It’s not unheard of to see a man die cock fighting. I’ve been told by a fighter whom by his own conservative estimate has pulped over four thousand cocks, that when fighting a chicken, it can somehow seem larger than a man.
And there is money in it – if you’re good. There’s other perks as well. The Thai women – they fancy you if they see you kicking the shit out of a chicken.
Apparently they pump the cocks full of rat hormones to make them more aggressive. Some people say the sport started when a man whom couldn't afford to pay for his Pad Kapow Gai Kai Dao went on a killing spree which was entirely excusable.
You can tell where a cock fighter lives by the large statue of a chicken at the front of his house. Personally I’d like to see this kind of thing stamped out, but in Thailand I suppose money talks – and the story it tells is that the cock fighting will continue unabated.
Shame, shame, shame.