Pak: Caging songbirds for prize money, expert calls it 'cruelty'

At the end of eight hours of gruelling competition, one partridge owner was crowned winner, earning a plastic gold trophy and a medal. When the competition was over, the birds' cages were covered, which calms the partridges down to the point that they fall almost completely silent.

Islamabad (Pakistan): More than 1,000 birds were brought to a black partridge singing contest in Pakistan to be judged for their distinctive squawks. But bringing the partridges to a competition while keeping the birds cooped up in cages, is animal cruelty, says one expert.

On a dusty plain outside the town of Mianwali in Pakistan's Punjab province, more than 1,200 partridges were brought to a singing contest where the birds had to sing from inside their cages.

The competition features a series of elimination rounds and each row of birds is assigned a judge whose job is to count the number of times an hour that each bird makes its distinctive squawk.

There is no cheating and no gambling in this game, explained a judge, saying that the counting is based on trust.

But keeping the partridges caged throughout a singing competition amounts to animal cruelty, says Safwan Shahab Ahmed of the Pakistan Wildlife Foundation. The partridge's "cage is tiny. He can't move one step," Ahmed adds. Partridge owners claim that the melodies their birds sing are praises to God, but Ahmed says this has not been scientifically proven.

At the end of eight hours of gruelling competition, one partridge owner was crowned winner, earning a plastic gold trophy and a medal. When the competition was over, the birds' cages were covered, which calms the partridges down to the point that they fall almost completely silent.

Keeping a partridge can be an expensive hobby in Pakistan, with some of the more prized birds selling for up to half a million Pakistani rupees, or $6,250. But the bird usually sells for around $250.

Being a partridge owner can also be lucrative since singing competitions around Pakistan offer cash prizes as well as motorbikes and electronics for the winner to snatch.

In Pakistan, partridge fortunes are mixed. During the summer, they're encouraged to sing as the heat makes them more vocal. Yet in the winter months, the birds become a popular target for hunters.