CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – Dozens of fighting cocks worth hundreds of thousands of pesos were mysteriously killed in Barangay Kauswagan recently but the city veterinarian suspects a huge rodent could be responsible for the deaths of these gamefowls.
According to reports, at least two training facilities for fighting roosters were raided by creatures last week the City Veterinarian’s Office described as rats.
At least 33 fighting cocks were slaughtered by the predators with damages reaching more than P150,000.
The cocks’ owners described the animals as “rats as big as cats.”
A former politician from Bukidnon, one of the two owners of the rooster breeding and training facilities, who requested that his name be not included for this story, said they had yet to determine the predators.
Neighbors also complained that their ducks were attacked by predators in the past.
In an interview with reporters, Dr. Perla Asis, the city veterinarian, said the attackers of the fighting cocks could be big rats following an inspection of the remains of the slaughtered game fowls.
Asis said the owners of the cocks must secure their roosters’ dwellings so they could not be attacked, and to place rat poison surrounding the game fowls’ cages.
She said the roosters cannot see at night and she thinks this is the reason why they were attacked by predators.
A helper in one of the facilities said he saw a four-legged animal roaming the area which he believed could be the attacker. “It was a big black dog,” he said.
What was surprising, the facilities’ owners said, was that their guard dogs were quiet the night of the attack.
Asis advised people not to consume the dead fowls as they might contain diseases and infection brought by the attackers. (davaotoday.com)
