Chickens cause diplomatic incident

Filipinos brought sabong to France.

France was not amused.

All that wine, cheese, art, architecture, the Louvre, Notre-Dame.

Now two roosters and people taking bets.

French authorities noticed.

They alerted the Philippine Embassy in Paris about illegal cockfighting and gambling activities involving Filipinos.

There were complaints about disturbances to the peace and littering.

You don’t call an embassy because somebody has one noisy chicken. Imagine how far things had to go.

The embassy put out an advisory telling Filipinos in France, essentially: Please stop.

Illegal cockfighting can be punished under French animal-cruelty law by up to three years in prison and a €45,000 fine.

But don’t they have French have sabong, too?

Cockfighting is generally prohibited in France, but the law allows it in places where an “uninterrupted local tradition” can be established.

It survives in parts of northern France and some overseas territories.

The embassy did not say where the Filipino fights happened, how many people were involved and for how much money.