An Indian man has died after his cockfighting rooster slashed his throat with a blade tied to its claw.

Saripalli Chanavenkateshwaram Rao, 50, was traveling to a cockfight with his rooster in tow when the animal attacked him, according to CNN. After the rooster sliced Rao’s throat, he was transported to a hospital where he died of a stroke.

Rao was a father of three and lived in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh in Pragadavaram village. He frequented local cockfights and often entered his own animals in the contest, as he was on his way to do when his animal attacked him in a bid to escape. India outlawed cockfighting in 1960, but the blood sport has continued to operate underground.

"The offenses have been made very clear and explained to the district and state authorities, but they choose to turn a blind eye towards it. It is not just for entertainment that these animals are made to fight, but it is (also) due to the heavy betting and gambling that goes on in the garb of these events," said Gauri Maulekhi, a trustee for India’s People for Animals foundation.

Cockfighting remained legal in parts of the United States until relatively recently. Louisiana was the last state to ban the practice in 2008. The sport was still allowed in U.S. territories until last month when a ban passed by Congress went into effect.