Ram fighting charges out of history to butt civilization in the ass

(Beth Clifton collage)

Gambling pastime found in the Bible

            LAGOS,  Nigeria;  BANGALORE,  India––“Ram fighting during,  but not limited to,  the Eid period,  and involving not just Muslims,  seems to have become a gold mine in Nigeria,”  a Muslim reader informed ANIMALS 24-7 shortly after the Feast of Eid al Adha on July 9,  2022.

A ram fight consists of releasing two rams of matched weight to repeatedly charge and butt each other until one of them gives up,  runs away,  collapses from injury and exhaustion,  or drops dead to become shish kebobs.

This is also the usual fate of any frequent loser.  Winners fight again and again,  with some mating opportunities between fights,  until they too repeatedly lose.

Nigerian rams sold for fighting.
(Facebook photo)

“There are fatalities”

There is of course much more to it.

“It involves gambling.  And not only that: some claim the animals are doped with Indian hemp.  There are fatalities of course,”  the reader mentioned.

The Feast of Eid al Adha is notorious worldwide for often inept public slaughter of animals by heads of households,  misleadingly described as “sacrifice.”

These animals,  mostly sheep and goats,  are killed to be eaten during the Feast of al Adha itself and for meat distribution to the poor,  as prescribed by the Prophet Mohammed.

Few of the amateur practitioners manage to fully comply with the rules for halal slaughter,  set forth by Mohammed to minimize animal suffering.

More and more Muslims opt at each Feast of Eid al Adha to practice the alternative of making a direct monetary donation to charity.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Animal fighting forbidden in Islam

Practicing animal fighting at the Feast of Eid al Adha,  or “Feast of Atonement,”  is a very different matter in Islam from bungling slaughter while trying to fulfill a perceived religious duty,  and might be considered outright blasphemy.

“Animal fighting is forbidden in Islam,”  explains the Islamic information web site https://islam.stackexchange.com/questions/38172/prohibition-of-animal-fights-in-islam.  “There is a hadith on it in Sunan Abu Dawud and Jamee at-Tirmizhi:

نهى رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم عن التحريش بين البهائم

Translation:  “The Messenger of Allah prohibited instigating fights between beasts.”

Promoting animal fighting “is also rationally evil because it is cruelty to animals causing suffering and possibly even death without any proper interest served,”  Islam Stack Exchange adds.

(Nigeria SPCA photo)

“Not just Muslims”

But ram fighting in Nigeria,  as the ANIMALS 24-7 reader noted,  involves “not just Muslims.”  Almost as many Nigerians are Christians as are Muslims,  and a small minority practice traditional animist religions.  Neither any branch of Christianity nor any animist religion specifically prohibits animal fighting.

There is,  however,  little if any secular humane law enforcement in Nigeria.  Indeed,  there appears to have been no functional humane society in Nigeria to enforce the applicable humane laws,  such as they are,  or to lobby for humane law enforcement by the regular police,  since the October 14, 2020 mob attack that destroyed the Nigeria SPCA,  which had struggled along since 1947.

(See https://www.animals24-7.org/2020/10/24/mob-destroys-the-nigeria-spca-amid-national-crisis/.)

“National championship” ram fight in Nigeria.  (Facebook photo)

Fading out?

At a glance,  ram fighting appears to be fading out in Nigeria,  even without active opposition from either imams,  the all but vanished animal advocacy sector,  and state law enforcement.

ANIMALS 24-7 discovered an average of about one article per year about ram-fighting in Nigeria published in English-language media over the past 20 years,  very few of those articles published by major outlets.

Almost all of these few articles,  typically written by ram fighting promoters,  predicted that ram fighting would soon gain popularity.  None,  however,  demonstrated with more than anecdotal data that this has actually occurred.

(Facebook photo)

Few people attend besides the ram fighters themselves

Counting the numbers of participants and spectators in 13 photos purporting to show Nigerian national championship ram fights,  several of them showing most or all of the arena,  produced a total of 163 people shown attending 11 ram fights,  65 people at the second largest,  and 195 at the biggest.  Projecting the latter count to the whole of that arena suggested that as many as 400 people might have been present.

But even at this biggest ram fight,  there was no indication of television cameras present to broadcast ram fights to an off-site audience,

This suggested that practically the only people attending ram fights in Nigeria are the ram fighters themselves,  and that ram-fighting is more likely to die from disinterest than from any sort of campaign against it.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Book of Daniel

Ram fighting has,  however,  persisted for perhaps longer than civilization itself,  and turns out to be still practiced in India,  Indonesia,  Tunisia,  and parts of Central Asia,  mostly in majority Islamic communities despite the explicit Islamic injunction against it.

The biblical Book of Daniel includes a symbolic description of a ram-and-goat fight,  authored between 164 and 167 BCE according to specific historical references appearing elsewhere within the text.  This was approximately 1,200 years before the life of Mohammed.

The ram-and-goat fight in the Book of Daniel appears to have been based not on something seen in the wilderness,  involving wild animals,  but rather on an incident in the middle of a major metropolis,  near the water source that supplied the city.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Danny describes the ram-&-goat fight

Testified Daniel,  a historical figure from the sixth century BCE to whom the Book of Daniel is attributed,  despite the evidence that it was written 400 years later,  “In a vision I saw myself in the citadel of Susa,”  about 500 miles south of modern day Tehran,  “in the province of Elam.  I saw in the vision that I was beside the Ulai Canal.  Then I lifted up my eyes and saw a ram with two horns standing beside the canal.  The horns were long,  but one was longer than the other,  and the longer one grew up later.

“Suddenly a goat with a prominent horn between his eyes came out of the west, crossing the surface of the entire earth without touching the ground.  He came toward the two-horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and rushed at him with furious power.  I saw him approach the ram in a rage against him,  and he struck the ram and shattered his two horns.  The ram was powerless to stand against him,  and the goat threw him to the ground and trampled him,  and no one could deliver the ram from his power.”

The mention that “no one could deliver the ram from his power” is evocative of contemporary videos showing losing ram fighters trying to save injured rams from especially aggressive opponents.

Cover of Thomas Stevens’ 1887 book Around the World on a Bicycle.

500 miles away,  2,150 years later

Reported Around the World on a Bicycle (1887) author Thomas Stevens of ram fighting in Tehran,  then called Persia and now called Iran,  for the Connecticut Western News on June 2,  1886:

“A stroll of 15 minutes about the streets of the Persian capital is impossible without encountering ‘sports’ leading their pet rams along by a string.  The owners bet freely on the prowess of their respective champions.

“Plenty of Tehrani sports depend entirely upon their ram for a living,”  observed Stevens.

“Many of the smaller merchants own fighting rams,  keeping them tied up in front of their shop.  When business gets dull,  they send challenges to rival merchants.  Fights take place daily,  sometimes purely for amusement and sometimes for a wager.”

The Biblical Daniel would almost certainly have recognized the scene,  and perhaps even the specific locale.

(Beth Clifton collage)

“Ram fighting is monotonous”

A more critical report about ram fighting,  as practiced in Cashmere,  India,  now called Kashmir,  appeared in the Dallas Daily Herald of October 15, 1886.

“After the first few minutes,”  wrote the anonymous author,  “when you begin to realize that neither animal is likely to fall down dead,  ram-fighting is monotonous.”

Despite the alleged monotony,  “Ram fighting is said to divide with cockfighting the affections of those of sporting blood among the natives of Ceylon,”  now Sri Lanka,  offered the Philadelphia Times of February 12, 1890.

Wrote Donald J. Alexander,  U.S. minister to Persia,  in 1894,  supporting the earlier report by Thomas Stevens:  “The national sports of Persia are horse racing and ram fighting.  The rams are trained for the purpose,  are pitted like dogs,  and fight most desperately for hours.  The Persians are great gamblers,  and bet all through the fighting.”

Nigerian fighting ram

Horns repeatedly pulled out by the roots

The 2,600-mile documented extent of ram-fighting,  from Tehran southeast to Sri Lanka,  was extended another 1,000 miles to the northeast by an unattributed but widely syndicated January 27,  1900 report from Bengal in northeastern India.

“A likely male lamb is chosen when quite young,”  this report specified.  “ His preparation often extends over 18 months to two years before he is chosen to carry his village’s money.

“The first operation is to make him grow suitable horns,”  wrote the anonymous author.  “When his first horns appear,  the owner grasps them in his teeth,  and by dint of oscillation they are torn out of their sockets.  This operation has to be repeated upon subsequent growths two or three times.  Then the young champion develops a really massive pair,  very broad at the base.

“He is always chained,  presumably to make him pugnacious,”  the account continued.  “When his horns are sufficiently tough,  he is taught butting.

“His trainer dons a wooden shield.  The ram is taught to butt this,  at first with only a short run.  But as he takes to this training,  he backs farther and farther from the object,  until the legitimate distance is arrived at.”

Central Asian ram fighters circa 1876-1925.  (Brooklyn Museum photo)

Bolsheviks

Temple Manning,  who shared his or her name with several other writers both earlier and later,  reported from Bokhara,  Turkestan for the Athens Messenger,  May 10, 1922,  that “In Bokhara,  even sporting events take place in the streets,  the favorite pastime being ram fighting.  Here two huge sheep are pitted against each other,  and all traffic is blocked while the pitched battle rages,  much to the delight of the crowd.  But nowadays these combats are often rudely interrupted by a Bolshevist policeman.”

Turkestan,  now called Turkmenistan,  had already been informally annexed by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics,  though not officially admitted to the USSR until two years later.

A ram fight in Bengal, India, 1899.
(Artist W.T. Maud)

“Craze in India”

The Bolshevik opposition to ram fighting,  based on opposition to gambling,  is among the first mentions of anyone other than Mohammed trying to stop it.

Ram fighting meanwhile “has become such a craze in India that coolies working on railways are carrying the four-legged batterers with them,  and release the animals when in need of amusement,”  the Butte, Montana Standard mentioned on January 20,  1929.

(Beth Clifton collage)

“Ramchargers”

Efforts to introduce what was called “Australian ram fighting” to the U.S. were ridiculed by the Oakland Tribune in March 1953,  while no other media paid evident attention.

The attempted introduction appears to have had some indirect success,  however,  when the Chrysler company adopted the name “Ramcharger” and ram fighting imagery for racing engines built for drag racing between 1959 and 1964.

The “Ramcharger” name and ram fighting imagery were later used to promote a series of Dodge pickup trucks,  built by Chrysler Motors,  from 1974 to 2001.

Whether the chrome-plated ram hood ornament on the pickup trucks was meant to suggest possible survival of head-on collisions or to excite would-be cowboys with a close-up smooth and shiny rear view of a sheep was never officially clarified.

(Facebook photo)

West Java

Reports of ram fighting in Indonesia first surfaced when Associated Press mentioned on September 4,  1967 that,  “Although little known even in Indonesia,  this traditional West Javanese sport is practiced by hundreds of farmers as a hobby with their pet rams.”

Two and a half years later,  on March 19,  1970,  United Press International writer T.C. Kemasang reported from Bandung,  capital of West Java,  that “It is the end of the harvest season and traditional ram fighting is about to begin.  Each owner antes up a few hundred rupiahs to pay the orchestra,”  a custom not previously mentioned elsewhere.

“Without the orchestra,”  Kemasang explained,  “there could be no fights,  for the rams are conditioned to charge at the sound of small two-sided kendang drums.

“A lightweight ram is expected to last out 20 collisions,  a middleweight 30 collisions,  and a heavyweight at least 40 collisions,”  Kemasang said.

(Beth Clifton photo)

No outward sign of rising interest

Ram fighting apparently increased in popularity in West Java during the next 40 years.  Jakarta Post writer Yuli Tri Suwarni on February 17,  2006 expanded Kemasang’s list of ram fighting locations within Bandung,  mentioned that “ram fights are regularly held on Sunday morning,”  and added that “Ram fights are also popular with West Java residents from outside Bandung.”

Reports of ram fighting from Bandung,  in particular,  have continued since then,  and ram fighting is promoted to some extent as a tourist attraction,  but there are no outward indications of an increase in public interest or participation,  or of ram fighting spreading to other Indonesian islands.

(Facebook photo)

“Growing popularity” but thin crowds

Ram fighting appears to have been most vigorously promoted in Nigeria in recent years,  with desultory results.

“The event is growing in popularity,”  alleged Associated Press on October 19,  2008. “Discussions are now underway that could see an international event in January 2009,”  which seems not to have been held.

“The annual ram fighting contest [associated with the Feast of al Adha] was first made popular by Nigeria’s Muslim population during the month of Ramadan centuries ago,”  Associated Press said,  without offering documentation,  “but its popularity grew and now people of all faiths enjoy the event.

“Now in its ninth year,  the national contest is organized by the Ram Owners Association of Nigeria and the Ram Sport Lovers Association of Nigeria,”  Associated Press continued.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Rules

In truth,  documentation of ram fighting in Nigeria appears to date back only to 1997,  when the first “national contest” was held.

The Ram Sport Lovers Association of Nigeria won a puff piece of sorts from Vice.com writer Michael Tunison on April 28, 2010.

“Ram fighting—which is also popular in Indonesia, China and Algeria—isn’t nearly as violent as dog and cock fighting,”  asserted Tunison.  “Little blood is spilled,  and the rams don’t duel to the death.  Fights are usually limited to 50 blows before they are called off,  though in the finals the limit is lifted.”

A 2016 NBC News report elaborated that,  “The Nigerian ram fighting rules state that at the start of a tournament rams are allowed to hit 30 ‘blows’ before the referee calls a tie.  By the finals,  rams can head-butt up to 100 times.”

(Beth Clifton collage)

Gambling

“An animal rights group briefly took issue,”  Tunison said,  without naming the group,  “but were ultimately convinced it wasn’t a barbaric practice.  Also, the organized [ram fights] are better than the unregulated fights sometimes run on the streets.

“However,  one negative upshot,”  Tunison conceded,  “has been the increased culture of gambling that has been cultivated to coincide with the gains in popularity.”

Nurudeen Alimi of Other Sports made clear the importance of gambling to ram fighting in a November 2,  2016 article entitled “Ram fighting: Nigeria’s growing passion gunning for Olympics.”

“Earlier in the year, “  Alimi wrote, “the Traditional Sports Federation of Nigeria informed that ram fighting will feature at the 19th National Sports Festival originally slated for Calabar,  Cross River State.  The games may now be held in Abuja,”  moved apparently because of controversy over gambling.

(Beth Clifton collage)

“Majority are bettors”

A spectator identified as Daud Adesoji asserted that eventually “ram fighting will be as popular as the game of football,  and will be acceptable and followed keenly by Nigerians.”

Countered one Sekewa Olayinka from Ijebu-Ode,  ““If staking is taken away from the game,  I am very sure it will die a sudden death because the majority of the stakeholders are bettors.”

A Lagos ram fighter identified only as Yusuf was stabbed to death on August 4,  2019.

“According to an eyewitness, wrote Odita Sunday for The Guardian,  “after Yusuf’s ram was seriously knocked out and he lost his money,  he picked a fight with the owner of the winning ram,  who killed Yusuf,”  but was arrested at the scene.

Nigerian fighting ram.  (Facebook photo)

“Seasonal mainstay”

“Over the years in Lagos,”  observed Sunday,   “ram-fighting contests have become something of a seasonal mainstay in the days before the annual Sallah festival,”  a traditional Nigerian event which often coincides with the Feast of Eid al Adha.

“In the 80s and 90s,”  Sunday said,  “it was a common sight to see young boys moving about Lagos neighborhoods with rams during the Eid-el-Kabir festival,”  an alternate name used in Nigeria for the Eid al Adha.

“The youngsters would gather at a random spot and watch their rams duke it out,  butting heads and entertaining passers-by,”  Sunday recalled.

This ram fight in Shandong, China was attended by about 250 people.

China

The biggest crowds shown for ram fighting in relatively recent photos,  averaging upward of 80 spectators,  come from several different parts of China:  the Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Region,  and Uygur,  adjacent to Afghanistan,  both largely Muslim;  Henan,  in the Yellow River Valley,  far from anywhere else that ram fighting is known to be practiced;  and Shandong,  also an isolated outpost of the practice.

Some of the most recent reports from China are somewhat suspect,  however,  illustrated by photos that originally appeared in China Daily in 2015.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Afghanistan

Ram fighting has not recently been reported in many other nations,  which is not to say that it is not still going on unreported in remote places with low literacy rates and cultural hostility toward outsiders.

“Ram fighting,  as well as dog fighting and camel fighting,  are part of Afghanistan’s social entertainment,”  reported Global News on April 27,  2012,  during the U.S. occupation of Kabul.

The Taliban,  however,  suppressed animal fighting of all sorts from 1994 to 2001,  and is believed to have reinstated the bans that were lifted during the 20-year U.S. occupation that ended in September 2021.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Mumbai & Bengaluru

Ram fighting also continues in the outskirts of some of the biggest cities in India,  aided by apparent police corruption.

Reported the Times of India from Mumbai on March 29, 2016:

“The Kurla police busted a ram-fighting betting racket by arresting 12 persons and seizing two sheep.  But within a few hours,  the owner of one of the sheep stole it from the police station’s backyard and put in its place a replacement of noticeably different color.”

Allegedly “The Kurla cops failed to detect the deception.”

Ram fights videotaped in Bangalore [Bangaluru] in August 27, 2020 drew denunciations from Citizens United for the Protection of Animals India,  PETA India,  and People for Animals.

Probably not just coincidentally,  Bangalore is also the reputed longtime hub of dogfighting in India and leads the nation in non-rabid fatal dog attacks,  most of them by pit bulls.

(Beth Clifton collage)

“Fights need a police license”

“Popular across North Africa,  ram fighting is restricted in Tunisia.  Fights need a police license that is seldom given,  and animal rights groups criticize them as cruel,”  Reuters reported on June 17,  2021.

Writing for Middle East Eye on September 9,  2021,  citing among his sources a man who took up ram fighting “after spending several years imprisoned on drug-related charges in Italy,”  Jacopo Lentini  supplied considerably more detail.

“Fights mostly take place before the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha,”  Lentini confirmed,  “although animal combat is not condoned in Islam.”

Unlike elsewhere,  Tunisian ram fights are broadcast,  if informally and illegally.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Livestreamed on Facebook

“Khamous Jouida is well known in the ram fighting scene,”  Lentini wrote.  “He travels around Tunisia to livestream fights on dedicated Facebook pages.

“In 1975,”  Lentini recalled,  “an official ram-fighting federation was established, although it has since been disbanded. Fights are advertised on social media with aggressive boxing-style posters.”

In Lentini’s observation,  “The rams tend to begin bleeding quite soon into the fight and are pulled back in if they try to escape.  Eventually they collapse from exhaustion or injury.

“According to articles 315 and 317 of the Tunisian penal code,”  Lentini said,  “a person can be sentenced to 15 days imprisonment and a fine of 4.80 dinars ($1.70) for abusing domestic animals.”

Lentini also mentioned the efforts of Rakia Borgi from Tunisia Animals Voice to reinforce the Tunisian law against animal fighting.

(Beth & Merritt Clifton)

Lentini gave the last word to anthropologist Hassen Chaabani.

“Although the tradition of ram fights is still ongoing,”  Chaabani said,   “it is relatively rare in Tunisia.”

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