DEADLY COCK: Man killed by his own cock on way to cockfight

According to local police, Saripalli Chanavenkateshwaram Rao was killed after the man’s rooster slashed him in the neck with a blade tied on the rooster’s claw.

The man was taken to the hospital where he succumbed from his injuries.

A police officer told CNN that Rao was a local cockfighter, with his cock having attempted to run away on the way to his cockfight.

Rao hailed from a southern Indian village in the state of Andhra Pradesh, and passed away at the age of 55.

The Independent reported that the man was cut in the stomach rather than the neck, and was holding the cock to his stomach.

Though cockfights became illegal in India in 1960, cock enthusiasts continue to pit the birds against each other as a form of gambling and entertainment. The practice remains popular, as many believe state authorities “turn a blind eye” towards it.

“It is not just for entertainment that these animals are made to fight, but it is [also] due to the heavy betting and gambling that goes on in the garb of these events,” one animal rights activist told CNN.

The country’s Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld a ban on cockfights, to little avail.