Although the practice of adu bagong (boar fighting) has been a tradition in certain areas of West Java for decades, recent media reports, especially a spectacular and disturbing photo essay by Reuter’s photographer Beawiharta, have put the beast battles into the spotlight, with animal rights activists decrying the cruel sport.
A dog and wild boar fight during a contest in Indonesia, and more photos of the week: https://t.co/dX2lHndcWk pic.twitter.com/HX15oGFucw
— Reuters Pictures (@reuterspictures) October 22, 2017
At least one legislator for Indonesia’s House of Representatives has lent his voice to the outrage and asked that adu bagong be banned for good.
“It’s terrible, a spectacle that has no educational value because it’s full of cruelty. And usually things like this are associated with gambling. I’m hoping it will be stopped soon,” said Daniel Johan, the vice chairman of House Commission IV (which deals with matters related to agriculture, food and forestry) in a short message to Detik on Sunday.
As seen in the video above, adu bagong involves gladiator-like battles between wild boars and trained dogs in specially designed arenas that prevent the animals from escaping.
The practice grew out of hunting traditions from a time when wild boars were overrunning the area and destroying crops. Since then, it has become a popular spectator sport that can attract hundreds of spectators and earns large cash prizes for the winners.
One man who enters his dogs into the adu bagong battles, a 57-year-old named Deny, said that the gladiator bouts were merely a form of weekend entertainment for local people. When asked about the accusations that it’s cruel to the animals involved, Deny said that boars are just pests that still destroy many people’s crops. He also said that, unlike cockfighting, adu bagong is not about gambling but just for fun.
Detik also interviewed one spectator, a 49-year-old named Engkos, who said he had been watching the adu bagong battles since he was a boy and considered it a form of stress relief.
“Sometimes elite people go hunting to relieve their stress, but that’s not possible for people like us (because of the cost) so I just come here, see the blood like that, and I’m no longer stressed.”
But animal rights activists obviously see it very differently. Marison Guciano, the lead investigator of wildlife trade monitoring group Scorpion said that regardless of how long the tradition had been going on, it was clear that the practice was incredibly cruel to the animals, who fight until one of them receives injuries so great that they die or cannot continue fighting.
Also, Marison argues that it’s just plain illegal. “We’ve been monitored it, and I say that it’s a criminal act in violation of Article 302 of the Criminal Code,” Marison said on Thursday, referring to a section of the law covering the mistreatment of animals and involving penalties of up to 7 years in jail.
Scorpion hosted a protest in front of the West Java governor’s office today to demand that adu bagong be banned for good.
https://www.facebook.com/ChangeForAnimalsFoundation/posts/1490202284399248
There is also a Change.org petition for those who want to show their support for banning the brutal dog versus boar battles.
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