Prize bulls to the slaughter after clamp-down on bouts

PANAJI, Feb 12: In football-crazy Fatorda near Margao, Joseph and his son Joaquim are used to cheers with a difference. Birbal, their prize ...

PANAJI, Feb 12: In football-crazy Fatorda near Margao, Joseph and his son Joaquim are used to cheers with a difference. Birbal, their prize fighter bull is the undisputed champion of dhirio, the trial of strength between bovines, native to Goa.

But the seven-year old animal which has earned thousands of rupees for his owners has not locked horns with a challenger since 1996 when the sport was banned under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960. And if the sport is not allowed to resume soon, Birbal will join his former ring-mates on the butcher’s chopping block.

“With no more dhirios in Goa we can’t afford to maintain Birbal,” laments Joaquim Pinto, who was forced to dispose of the family land holdings to earn a living. The Pintos who formerly supplied bulls to patrons of dhirio have already sold two of the family’s fighting bulls in the beef market for Rs 1,500 each.

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It costs a small fortune to maintain a dhirio bull. While the average bull makes do with hay and the occasional oil cake, aprize fighter is thoroughly pampered. “A fighting bull needs nearly Rs 150 worth of cereal and grains everyday,” says Xavier Gracias, spokesman for the All Goa Bull and Buffalo owners Association. Dhirio aficionados also fork out impressive retainerships every month to local veterinarians to keep the animal in good health.

With the increase in the cost of maintenance, owners of these bulls are forced to employ them as draught animals. “If we put them to the plough the bulls become unfit for dhirio,” says Gracias. Neither can they be sent out to graze as their high testosterone levels provoke the dhirio to intimidate castrated bulls on the fields.”

James Alphonso, owner of Brownie a past title-holder, has installed a ceiling fan in the animal’s stall. “In the summer heat, Brownie becomes aggressive and difficult to control,” says Alphonso.

The more prosperous Goan farmers have gone for the softer option: Of giving their animals to friends on the condition that they will not be slaughtered. “Ofthe 13 dhirio bulls and buffaloes I had with me, I gave away 11, says Miguel Victor Rodrigues, President of the Association.

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While no exact figures are available, the Association estimates that a large number of the 12,000 dhirio bulls and buffaloes in the state have been sold for slaughter.

With popular support for the sport continuing unabated, Goa’s politicians have got into the Act. Recently, Industries Minister Luizinio Faleiro criticised the top brass of the Congress Party of not doing enough to help revive dhirio. “Nearly 6000 families depend on the sport for their livelihood. It should therefore be resumed,” Faleiro told The Indian Express.