View allAll Photos Tagged Cocks)
The cock fighting culture in SE Asia is fascinating. Male dominated obsessions in which houses and life savings are won and lost. Doping and skulduggery is apparently rife, Lance Armstrong may not be running the most sophisticated doping program after all.
Outside the famous Cock Hotel/Inn in Stony Stratford, sits an MGA.
The Cock is famous for being one half of the origin of the phrase 'Cock and Bull Story' The Bull Inn just up the road being the other half of the equation. The story goes, a tale was told in one pub, and retold slightly differently in the other.. Hence Cock and Bull.
The Cock is also slightly less famous for being the venue of my wedding 16 years ago. I say less famous, but if I was to forget the date/venue, my wife would make sure I would be famous for the damage she would inflict on me...
About the Breed
The merry and frolicsome Cocker Spaniel, with his big, dreamy eyes and impish personality, is one of the world's best-loved breeds. They were developed as hunting dogs, but Cockers gained their wide popularity as all-around companions. Those big, dark eyes; that sweet expression; those long, lush ears that practically demand to be touched'no wonder the Cocker spent years as America's most popular breed. The Cocker is the AKC's smallest sporting spaniel, standing about 14 to 15 inches. The coat comes in enough colors and patterns to please any taste. The well-balanced body is sturdy and solid, and these quick, durable gundogs move with a smooth, easy gait. Cockers are eager playmates for kids and are easily trained as companions and athletes. They are big enough to be sporty, but compact enough to be portable. A Cocker in full coat rewards extra grooming time by being the prettiest dog on the block. These energetic sporting dogs love playtime and brisk walks.
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The birds stamp their feet and cock their heads in an uncanny imitation of boxers before a match. They can have their eyes pecked out by a more vigorous adversary. They can be impaled through the brain with one of the plastic spikes that are affixed to the foot of every fighting bird. Or, if a lung is punctured, the end may come in slow, raspy gasps.If you put two roosters together, they will fight,But if you put a thousand hens together, they will never fight. The roosters have this in them.”What does that tell you?
But in the Dominican Republic, cockfighting is celebrated as a symbol of the country’s warrior spirit. Nearly every neighborhood and country village has a gallera, or cockfighting arena, and the sport is legal and regulated.
There are 1,500 galleras registered with the country’s National Commission of Cockfighting, and the industry employs thousands of people,The roosters begin their day at around 10 a.m., when they are weighed and matched with an opponent, then placed in numbered cages. Next a licensed rooster inspector dressed in white scrubs, uses an acid rinse that change colors when illegal substances are present on the birds’ skin. Overzealous owners sometimes rub tobacco or other chemicals on the roosters, which they believe makes them fight harder, While a helper holds each rooster’s legs, Then a inspector rubs the rinse into the neck feathers, then wipes the head and beak.By the time the roosters reach the ring they have spent an average of two years preparing for the fight, Their underbellies are shaved and their combs and wattles are surgically removed. Many were hatched from hens with a record of mothering good fighting birds. They are fed a diet of special grains, vitamins and antibiotics. The feathers are trimmed just so by professional groomers.
Cockfighting is especially popular in the countryside,in the Dominican Republic “They play baseball, they play stickball, and they have cockfights,” On Sundays, the women go to church, and the men go to the cockfight.”I will never forget the time when my friends and I were leaving a fight one time in Thailand as we were out in
the parking lot, as the buzzer signaled the start of another fight, a stray dog weaving between cars had something in its mouth.
It was the head of a fallen rooster.
Royal Air Force No.43 'Fighting Cocks' Squadron Panavia Tornado F.3 ZE887/GF on the flight line at the 2008 Biggin Hill 'Air Fair'
Introduced as the ADV (Air Defence Version) of the original MRCA (Multi-Role Combat Aircraft) concept that became the Tornado, these specialised F.3 variants serviced our QRA and front-line fighter squadrons out of Leuchars in Scotland, Coningsby in Lincolnshire and Leeming in North Yorkshire until the advent of the Typhoon which superceded the type
Coningsby also hosted the F.2/F.3 OCU No.229
Retired from use in 2011, the F.3 fleet were processed and 'parted out' through BAE's Leeming facility to help keep the GR.4 fleet flying
DSCN0887