Friday, November 8, 2013

Wanna Fight Some Spiders...?

Now I'm not talking about you picking a fight with a spider, but being a spectator of a fight between two of the ugly critters.

If you are like me, you have probably never heard of spider fighting...at least, not as a spectator sport! Guess that I haven't seen as much as I thought I had. I've heard of dog fighting, cock fighting, prize fighting but never of spider fighting! Not something I'll ever be a big fan of!

Spider fighting is an extremely popular blood sport in the Philippines where children capture and force spiders to fight atop a stick, often to the death. The Filipino government frowns on spider fighting as it introduces children to the world of gambling. Filipino farmers also look down on the sport as spiders protect their crops from insects.



Spider fighting is your worst nightmare come true. This ghastly sport takes place in the Philippines and is popular among children although it has attracted a large adult audience as well. The rules are pretty simple. The arachnids are placed on a stick and shoved toward each other until they start fighting. If a spider falls off the stick three times, it loses. If a spider gets wrapped up in its opponent’s webbing, it loses. And of course, a spider match can always result in death. This is one of those situations where winning really is everything.

According to Filipino children, there’s an art to catching the right spider. Kids wake up early in the morning to hunt for future champions, and the best fighters are said to be the ones living on electric power lines. The eight-legged pugilists are kept in matchboxes, and winners can fetch up to 100 pesos ($2.40) on the spider fighting market.

However, not everyone is pleased with spider wrestling. Filipino farmers are worried about the local arachnid population, fearing a decrease in spiders will give rise to an influx of insects. Even the Filipino government is cracking down on the blood sport, not out of concern for the animals’ welfare but because spider wrestling is causing students to skip school. Evidently, kids would rather watch spiders fight than study, and they spend more time catching prizefighters than doing homework. Officials are also concerned that spider fighting will introduce kids to the world of gambling (which is illegal in the Philippines). Spiders fights are quite a draw for gamblers, and bets can get as high as 50,000 pesos (a little over $1,100). That’s a lot of cash when you’re talking about battling arachnids.

I have to thank the folks over at KnowledgeNuts for this information! I'm sure that I'll have some nightmares in the near future, thanks to this story.

Coffee in the kitchen this morning. 44 degrees outside, and that's too chilly for me to sit on the patio!

7 comments:

Gorges Smythe said...

Some idiots would bet on anything!

Chickenmom said...

EEk! Never did like those creepy - crawlers! Coffee inside is perfect for today - was 32 when I woke up!

Rob said...

That story was really different, not the spider part specifically but the listed reactions to it.
I was left with visions of a whole generation of Philippines people unable to read or write because they spent their time catching & fighting spiders :) gambling too!

That was a good one!

linda m said...

People will gamble on anything. Never heard of spider fighting. When I lived in Okinawa they had some strange "fights" there between some sort of snake and a weasel. Weird! Have a great weekend.

JO said...

different strokes for different folks for sure. But this is sure a strange one. And I bet they have some nasty spiders there.

We seem to be flipping our weather. Low for last night was 48
and it is already 53 looking at a high of 83. But you have had more rain than AZ.

Pass the pot please.

Anonymous said...

Like the others, I've never heard of this before and I do feel sad for the spiders.

But people that likes betting likes to bet on anything :-)

Have a great day!
Christer.

HermitJim said...

Hey Gorges...
That they would!

Thanks for coming over!



Hey Phyllis...
Never have been too fond of them myself!

Warmer here that at your house! Thanks for coming by this morning!


Hey Rob...
It probably isn't as bad as it sounds, but if the government is involved...who knows?

Thanks for the visit today!



Hey Linda...
No matter where you go, folks can find a way to help animals kill each other! Betting on the outcome seems to be a terrible human trait to me!

Many thanks for coming by this morning!



Hey Jo...
I'm sure I really don't want to know what kind of spiders they have!

Not sure why you wanted to send your weather down here, but it's going back and forth!

Thanks, sweetie, for dropping in this morning!



Hey Christer...
The spiders don't seem to have much of a chance, that's for sure!

Gambling has been around for centuries and I guess it will always be here!

Thanks for dropping in, my friend!