Colombia's constitutional court banned cockfighting in September but set a three-year transition period requiring the government to provide alternative livelihoods and to survey those involved. A Cartagena ring staged more than 100 fights before about 300 spectators, underscoring how entrenched the practice remains. Supporters call it cultural and vital to local incomes; opponents call it cruel and say the government must act to prevent the activity moving underground by 2028.
Colombia Bans Cockfighting: A Bloody Night in Cartagena Highlights a Contentious Transition
One of the evening’s judges asks the people in the VIP area if they will place bets on the rooster he is holding in the Santa María cockfighting arena 8 October 2025.Photograph: Ever Mercado/The Guardian(Photograph: Ever Mercado/The Guardian)
On the outskirts of Cartagena — far from the brightly painted facades of the old city and the 500-year-old fortress that faces the Caribbean — a crowd of roughly 300 people erupted into cheers. The applause followed the gory finish of a bout inside a cockfighting ring: white padded walls splattered with blood, handlers carrying away a dead bird, and workers sweeping feathers and wiping blood to prepare for what would become more than 100 fights that night.
Background: A Tradition Under Scrutiny
Cockfighting, introduced to the region by Spanish colonisers, remains widely popular in Colombia. But in a constitutional court ruling in September the sport was banned. The court allowed a three-year transition period — giving the government until 2028 to provide alternative livelihoods for those who depend on the practice and to carry out a mandated survey to establish how many people are involved.
The Cartagena Night
Attendees — mostly men placing bets and toasting winnings — described a familiar ritual: birds enter the ring, judges preside, and spectators wager. Observers reported judges sometimes nudging reluctant birds together; in one pairing the birds only began attacking after repeated prodding and one bird died. Breeders and handlers prepared combatants by trimming feathers, altering combs and wattles, and fitting artificial spurs made of metal, resin or bone, fixed with hot wax and tape.
Legal And Political Responses
The national cockfighting federation, which is appealing the ban, estimates nearly 10,000 fighting arenas and says 270,000–290,000 families depend on the activity. Animal welfare groups dispute those figures and welcomed the court’s decision, arguing cultural tradition cannot justify sanctioned violence against sentient animals. The court also upheld a 2024 ban on bullfights and prohibited coleo (pulling a bull by its tail) and corralejas (amateur bull events).
"The fact that something is deeply rooted in a society does not make it morally acceptable," said Senator Andrea Padilla, a leading proponent of the ban.
Breeders' Perspective
Breeders counter that some breeds have been selectively bred for combative traits and say fighting can be a 'natural' behaviour for certain birds. Prominent breeders argue fewer than 20% of birds die in contests and call for regulation rather than prohibition. Many emphasize that entire local economies — food vendors, judges, craftsmen who make cages, cleaners and more — depend on the industry.
Risks Of A Hasty Transition
Critics of the court's timing warn the government has not yet provided adequate plans or programs to replace incomes, raising the risk that cockfighting will go underground once the ban takes full effect. A right-wing senator introduced a bill in January seeking to roll back parts of the ruling; that proposal remains in early legislative stages.
What Comes Next
The court ordered the government to survey participants and devise alternatives before the ban is fully enforced in 2028. Enforcement, monitoring and social programs will determine whether Colombia can phase out the practice without pushing it into clandestinity — or whether prohibition will only drive it further from public view.
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