Rooster with razor-sharp blades kills man going to cockfight in India, police say

A rooster outfitted with razor-sharp blades for an upcoming cockfight killed its owner on the way to an illegal match in India, CNN reports.

Police say Saripalli Chanavenkateshwaram Rao died Jan. 15 after he was stabbed in the neck with a blade attached to his rooster’s leg while it was trying to escape, according to the network. Rao, a father of three, died in a hospital of a stroke caused by the injury.

The Independent, however, says Rao died after being slashed by a rooster as a spectator at a cockfight in the village of Pragadavaram in Andhra Pradesh, citing local media reports.

The New Zealand Herald, also citing local media, says the rooster lashed out while being held up by a cockfighter before being put into the ring, striking Rao in the abdomen.

Cockfighting has been banned in India since 1960 but remains popular in some areas, according to the publication.

Roosters are sometimes armed with sharp blades on their legs for cockfighting to ensure the matches end quickly and definitively, The Independent reports.