Active Bali volcano no deterrent to deadly cockfighting matches in Mount Agung’s shadow
Cockfighting is a traditional and popular illegal blood sport in Indonesia. Two roosters, armed with spurs, are pitted against each other. The winner earns its owner a share of the betting proceeds, and the loser becomes lunch
A volcano may be rumbling off in the distance, but for a group of Balinese men and their fighting roosters it’s the roar of the crowd that says the show must go on.
Far off the Indonesian resort island’s tourist trail, heavily tattooed men gather at a clandestine site where birds battle each other – usually to the death – in a gory spectacle known as tajen that meshes blood sport with ancient Balinese Hindu traditions.
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About 100 male spectators gather on bamboo benches around a dirt ring as two roosters pulled from wicker baskets lunge at each other even before the match starts.
“If the owners of both fighters reach a deal and say ‘OK, let’s fight,’ then the roosters fight,” says I Made Gunawan, whose rooster is fighting today.
