Feathers and blood: One Voice investigates cockfighting
In early July 2025, dozens of people gathered at Le Coq d’Or restaurant in Mouchin (Nord). There is an entrance fee, and phones are prohibited. No images are allowed to leave the premises. But that was without taking account of the investigators from One Voice. Inside is the cockpit—an arena dedicated to these fights— into which roosters will be thrown to kill each other to the cheers of the crowd. Normally banned, these fights still benefit from an unacceptable exemption in certain localities. To ensure that this pastime is abandoned once and for all, we have referred the matter to the prefect and mayor of Saint-Martin-Lez-Tatinghem.
In Mouchin, as elsewhere, suffering is turned into a spectacle
An arena had been set up in the restaurant’s large hall. The cries of the roosters began to be heard. For two and a half hours, nearly 25 duels took place in front of an audience of dozens of men shouting to excite the birds and betting on the winner. A few children were present, trained from an early age to revel in this violence.
Before being thrown into the arena of the cockpit, the roosters were mutilated: their spurs were amputated and a five-centimeter needle was attached to them. Then the fight began, beaks were torn off, eyes gouged out, blood flowed from gaping wounds. When the referees deemed the fight to be over, those who were most seriously injured were taken to the back, bled dry, and decapitated.
Customs should never be used as an excuse for cruelty
Neither history nor customs can ever justify sacrificing animal lives for entertainment. Our regions are full of traditions that bring people together and do not involve any form of cruelty. It is high time to abandon once and for all the traditions that glorify violence against animals and perpetuate an endless cycle of barbarism. And to let these roosters, who aspire to nothing more than this, live in peace.
Today, we call on the prefect to take responsibility: to ban these fights throughout the department. And we ask the mayor of Saint-Martin-Lez-Tatinghem to take immediate action in his municipality, where we participated in a large inter-association gathering last May. It is time to have the political courage to stop this organized suffering of roosters and to finally listen to the aspirations of French people!