For the first time, bird enthusiasts in Dindigul organised a mega expo on Sunday, displaying rare kinds of roosters and hens with an aim of protecting such breeds from extinction.
A total 300 roosters that were often used for cockfight in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were displayed in the expo. ‘Kili Mooku’ rooster and ‘Visiri Val’ rooster were the star attractions at the expo.
Earlier, ‘jallikattu’ bull owners reared these varieties of roosters in their backyards and used them in cockfight, said S. Paneerselvam, a farmer from Nilakottai.
“Acute care is necessary to rear these birds. We should feed them nutritious food. We give them cashew and grains to make them healthy and fit to fight. Special training was given to the roosters to tackle their rivals. With a total ban of cockfight in the State, many rearers stopped maintaining these varieties and some of them sold the birds. Now, these varieties have been facing the threat of extinction. Such expos will create awareness among people, especially bird lovers, of the importance of protecting these birds and rearing them for ornamental purpose,” said K. Prabahar, one of the expo organisers.
Earlier, these birds were big income generators. They used to earn good money for their owners through cockfight. A majority of these birds were owned and maintained only by bull owners, who used to bring bulls for jallikattu and roosters for cockfight, held during village temple festivals.
Owning jallikattu bulls and roosters was considered as a pride at villages. They were symbols of prestige in affluent families in rural areas, said A. Karunakaran, a bull and rooster rearer from Nilakottai.
The rooster population had come down by 60 per cent in the southern States in the last two decades. In the future, the number would fall further as a majority of the owners lost interest in rearing these birds, said expo organisers.
Prices of the roosters brought to the expo ranged from Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 2 lakh depending on the age, size, colour and appearance of the birds. Bird enthusiasts from Bangalore, Kerala, Nellore and different parts of Tamil Nadu visited the expo.
A majority of these birds were owned and maintained only by bull owners, who used to bring bulls for jallikattu and roosters for cockfight
