A Philippine police officer became the unintended victim in a raid on an illegal cockfight, officials said Tuesday.
According to a report by CBS News, an official said the officer was killed during the raid in the central province of Northern Samar, when his femoral artery was sliced by a rooster’s blade.
The report said that the islands’ popular blood sport of cockfighting had been banned during the coronavirus pandemic, to prevent the gathering of large crowds and the spread of the virus.
CBS News cited provincial police chief Colonel Arnel Apud, who told AFP that while gathering evidence of the illegal event on Monday, Lieutenant Christian Bolok had picked up a fighting cock, when his left thigh was struck by the cock’s blade and he bled to death.
Apud said, “It was an unfortunate accident and a piece of bad luck that I cannot explain,” the report quoted..
Apud added, “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.”
The CBS News report cited Apud, who said the raid, which occurred in San Jose town, where Bolok was the police chief, resulted in the arrest of three people, the seizure of two fighting cocks and two sets of spurs.
The report described cockfighting as a blood sport “where money is bet on the outcome of a fight – often to the death – between two colorful birds armed with bladed spurs.”
In the U.S., cockfighting is illegal in all 50 states.
