‘Sabong’ Is the Philippines’s Billion Dollar Cockfighting Industry

In the Philippines, the 6,000 year-old sport of cockfighting has been transformed into a fully-legal, billion dollar industry. Known locally as sabong, it takes place in 2,500 dedicated stadiums across the country and kills an estimated 30 million roosters each year.

A few months back, VICE Australia hit the cockpits and hatcheries of Manila. There we met the breeders, trainers, and philosophers who help make sabong the Philippines’s national obsession.