GUWAHATI, India — The tiny birds entered the ring as almost 3,000 spectators applauded, some standing on vehicles for a greater view, whereas others clung to branches in bushes.

After a nine-year hiatus, fowl and buffalo fights are again at festivals in India’s northeast after the Supreme Court ended a ban on the custom.

Despite opposition from wildlife activists, animal fights had been organized final week throughout Assam’s Magh Bihu harvest pageant, beneath a brand new state regulation that guarantees to make the contests protected for the animals.

At a temple on the outskirts of the state capital, the bulbuls — songbirds concerning the measurement of a bluejay — fluttered up within the air and swooped down on their opponents, their house owners holding a string tied round their legs. Some spectators made bets with one another.

Three judges watch the birds’ approach, and provides the winner’s proprietor with a money prize of three,000 rupees ($35).

Dijen Bharali, an organizer, mentioned the fights are protected for the bulbuls. “The small birds get tired after the fight that lasts around five to ten minutes each, but they do not get injured,” he said. He said 50 families brought two birds each to the day-long festival.

India’s Supreme Court stopped fights like these in 2014, along with other sports like bull cart races, under the country’s 1960 Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. But last year, it signed off on new laws made by some state governments that revived the custom while putting rules in place to protect the animals.

Popular tradition dates Assam bird fights to the 18th-century, when a king saw two wild birds fighting. It’s a popular pastime at the January harvest festival, along with bonfires, feasts and other games.

Local people catch the wild birds ahead of the festival season, train them, and then release them after the game is over.

Mubina Akhtar, an animal rights activist, called the resumption of the fights a step backward.

“This is the age of AI. We are going for one thing within the identify of custom that I really feel is so primitive or medieval. It’s a sort of torture for the animals as a few of them get killed or injured,” mentioned Akhtar.

Assam’s regulation requires that organizers present meals and water to the birds on the website of the battle. At the top of the sport, the birds should be let out in good well being. If organizers fail to observe the foundations, the occasions might be banned for 5 years.

However, Akhtar regretted that the fights encourage individuals to catch the birds within the wild and pressure them to battle. “We have to conserve species which are declining or disappearing,” she mentioned.

The red-vented bulbul just isn’t at present listed as a threatened or endangered species.

Buffalo fights have a shorter historical past in Assam, however they draw occasion greater crowds, with as much as 10,000 individuals gathering in stadiums in Morigaon, Nagaon and Sivasagar districts, locations with a 25-year historical past with the game.

As required by the brand new legal guidelines, veterinary groups watched the animals locking horns, prepared to answer any medical emergency. The state authorities additionally banned trainers from giving the buffalos opium or different performance-enhancing medication.

Bharali mentioned some buffaloes had been wounded and misplaced blood within the fights however organizers are taking steps to cut back accidents.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an animal rights group, urged the state authorities to urgently cease buffalo and fowl fights within the state

In a letter to the state’s high elected official, Peta argued that the fights violate the 1960 regulation.