Vietnam's annual water buffalo fighting festival resumed Thursday despite calls for an end to the traditional event because of its violence.
The tournament was halted temporarily three months ago after a buffalo killed its owner on the fighting field. It was the first human fatality, although buffaloes have died in fights before.
More safety measures, including re-enforced fences and tests of buffaloes for stimulants, have been put in place since then.
On Thursday, about 20,000 people crowded the stadium in the resort town of Do Son in Hai Phong to watch the finals, in which 16 buffaloes were pit against each other.
"I'm really happy and proud," said Luu Dinh Toi, whose buffalo was the winner.
Toi's buffaloes have participated in many festivals, but this was the first time one was the winner.
"I was the one who cut grass to feed my buffalo and stay with him overnight over the past year," he said. "Today, my buffalo rewarded me for my care."
In accordance with tradition, all losing buffaloes were slaughtered right after the end of the tournament. The winning buffalo will be killed the next day as a tribute to God.
"I'm very sad that my buffalo will be slaughtered for God tomorrow," Toi said. "I feel like I'm losing something, but that's the tradition left behind by our ancestors and I have no choice."
The death in early July sparked a heated debate over whether to continue the festival.
Nguyen Tam Thanh of the animal welfare group Animals Asia in Vietnam said his group is opposed to events where animals are maltreated or used to entertain people.
People watch a water buffalo fight in Do Son beach town of Hai Phong, Vietnam, Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017. On Thursday, about 20,000 people crowded the stadium in the resort town of Do Son in the port city of Hai Phong to watch the finals, in which 16 buffaloes were pit against each other. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh)
"This year's festival is very disappointing," he said. "Our group had hoped that the deadly incident would serve as a warning ... but regrettably, the festival still went ahead and the community's ideas were not respected."
Buffalo fighting was halted during the Vietnam War and resumed in the late 1980s.
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — U.S. weapons manufacturers could work with Vietnamese counterparts to help build up Vietnam's armed forces, the U.S. ambassador to the southeast Asian country said on Thursday.
“Our goal is to ensure that Vietnam has what it needs to defend its interests at sea, in the air, on the ground and in cyberspace,” U.S. Ambassador Marc Knapper said at an international arms expo in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi.
The expo, held at Hanoi’s Gia Lam airport, brings together 250 exhibitors including geopolitical rivals including the U.S., China, Russia, Ukraine, Israel and Iran.
U.S. exhibitors include Boeing and Textron Aviation. China is present with Norinco and Gaodu International Trade. Iran’s defense ministry pavilion isn't far from booths set up by Israeli companies Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries. A number of Russian firms are also in attendance along with Ukraine’s Motor Sich.
Vietnam has been trying to increase its domestic arms manufacturing while reducing its reliance on Russia for weapon imports.
In 2022, Russia made up around 60% of all of Vietnam's military purchases, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. But Vietnam's longstanding efforts to diversify its imports have been accelerated by the war in Ukraine. It has also been trying to boost its own capacity to make arms and displayed indigenously-made military equipment at the expo.
A key driver for Vietnam is the escalating tensions in the South China Sea, a key trade and security route. It is a flashpoint in Asia and a fault line in the U.S.-China regional rivalry. Vietnam has been critical of China’s increasingly hostile actions in the disputed waters. Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries have overlapping claims in the busy sea passage.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh hailed the event as a “message of peace, cooperation and development." He was later given a tour of a military plane made by U.S. firm Lockheed Martin.
A woman walks past stalls set up by Russian firms at the Vietnam International Defense Expo held in Hanoi, Vietnam, Thursday, Dec.19, 2024. (AP Photo/Aniruddha Ghosal)
Iran's Defense ministry pavilion at the Vietnam International Defense Expo held in Hanoi, Vietnam, Thursday, Dec.19, 2024. (AP Photo/Aniruddha Ghosal)
Military plane made by U.S.-firm Lockheed Martin at the Vietnam International Defense Expo held in Hanoi, Vietnam, Thursday, Dec.19, 2024. (AP Photo/Aniruddha Ghosal)
A man takes a photograph of China's NORINCO stall at the Vietnam International Defense Expo held in Hanoi, Vietnam, Thursday, Dec.19, 2024. (AP Photo/Aniruddha Ghosal)
Two men in Vietnamese military uniform talk to each other next to a stall by Vietnamese state-owned firm Viettel at the Vietnam International Defense Expo held in Hanoi, Vietnam, Thursday, Dec.19, 2024. (AP Photo/Aniruddha Ghosal)
FILE - A man walks past a Lockheed Martin logo as he walks through a section of the company's chalet bridging a road at Farnborough International Airshow in Farnborough, southern England, July 19, 2006. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 25, 2011, file photo, is the Boeing Company logo on the property in El Segundo, Calif. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)
