Like every year, Andhra Pradesh is gearing up for a three-Sankranti extravaganza where gambling and betting are integral. Betting on cock fights, a traditional sport is estimated to run into a few thousand crores. In recent years, alongside cock fight arenas, temporary casinos have also come up with the blessings of top political figures.

The flagship cockfight involves two trained roosters fitted with razor-sharp blades on their legs fighting to their death, or until one of them backs off. The public from Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai along with NRIs with roots in Andhra flock to cockfight locations to bet.

However, this year, an unexpected challenge has arisen as a viral disease ‘Ranikhet,’ affecting the chickens, leaving many birds in poor form. The disease significantly weakened the birds and compromised their ability to partake in the fights. To boost their performance, unconventional measures are taken, including feeding chickens Viagra, Shilajit, and steroid-laden food.

Veterinary experts cautioned on the use of hormone-boosting drugs, highlighting potential long-term consequences such as crippling the birds and potential mutations that could create health challenges to humans if consumed. While these unorthodox drugs are being introduced to the cocks for the first time, the actual impact on enhancing fighting spirit is untested.

Police continue vigil on cock fight organisers

The Andhra Pradesh police have tightened the vigil on cockfights, a sport banned due to court orders. But locals say all police announcements on arrests are only the tip of the iceberg and it is the police who provide security to the locations where cockfights are organised.

The police recently said they have intensified raids on rooster tamers, knife makers, punters, people who lease out their land for setting up cockfight arenas and habitual offenders having connections with the banned sport.

The Station House Officers (SHOs) are conducting raids against organising cockfights, manufacturing knives and taming different species of fowls for the fight in villages. The police last month are reported to have registered about 5,000 cases against the cockfight and gambling organisers and punters in undivided East and West Godavari districts along with Krishna and Guntur regions in the last several years.