This coming weekend, the annual Kallemooi celebrations will be held on the Wadden island of Schiermonnikoog, which involve placing a rooster in a basket and hoisting it up a flag pole for several days on Whit Sunday. Animal rights activists are planning to protest the event.
Translation by Hans de Preter
There has long been commotion surrounding the old tradition, which is carried out because the rooster is considered a symbol of fertility. Supporters of Kallemooi say that the animal is treated better than the meat industry treats chickens and roosters, pointing out that the rooster is monitored by camera, given food and water and that he is eventually set free. The rooster is also examined by a veterinarian before being placed in the basket, which is hoisted 18 meters above the ground.
But that argument does not convince the animal rights activists, who assert that the tradition amounts to animal cruelty. Jan ten Cate, the initiator of the protests, told the Leeuwarder Courant that the very fact that such measures need to be taken at all is proof that it should be brought to an end.
A lawsuit against the practice earlier this year failed, but a group of activists is planning to protest against the tradition coming Pentecost weekend on Schiermonnikoog against hanging the rooster in a basket at an altitude of 18 meters, according to the Leeuwarder Courant.
