COCK FIGHTING?

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 174, 25 July 1932, Page 8

COCK FIGHTING?

SCENE NEAR PUKEKOHE. POLICE MAKE DISCOVERY. CHARGES OF CRUELTY. THIRTEEN MEN TO APPEAR. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) PUKEKOHE, this day. A case of unusual interest will be heard at the next sitting of the Police Court at Pukekohe, when 13 men, including several who belong to Auckland, will be charged with cruelty to animals. Yesterday, police from Pukekohe, while visiting Bombay and Kamarama, observed a number of men in a paddock. It is alleged that their investigations showed that cock fighting was in progress. About 20 gamecocks in boxes are stated to have been near the ring, while one bird, which had just finished a fight, was dead. The police, it is understood, commandeered the fighting ring and the dead bird, together with tethers and steel spikes which are said to have been used on the birds. The full story will be told in Court. Cock-fighting, common among the ancient Greeks and Romansfi was given Royal patronage when introduced into England in the reign of Edward 111. Henry "VIII. had a cockpit built at Whitehall, I. is said to have attend cock fights at -least twice a week. Birds were specially bred' for fighting, and they were often equipped with artificial spurs bound to the shank. Cockpits continued to exist in main' parts of London- until the middle of the nineteenth century, and in the provinces for years after. In Asia to-day the gama is widely popular, especially among the Chinese, Siamese and malavs.