The life of a bird bred for cockfighting is typically short and nasty, but a recent cockfighting cockup in Cambodia is generating protests from animal rights groups.

Cambodia’s animal lovers are up in arms after a court ordered police to slaughter 92 birds that were seized during raids on two illegal cockfighting rings earlier this month. Agence France Press reported that dozens of individuals were arrested during the raids, but most have since been released with only light suspended sentences.

Meanwhile, instead of transferring the traumatized chickens to some kind of refuge where they could live out the rest of their days in relative peace and harmony, a court ordered police to slaughter all 92 birds “to prevent the offence from happening again and to speed up the investigation proceedings.” And, presumably, to avoid having roving gangs of bad-ass roosters terrorizing the local milquetoast chicken population.

The court’s decision has rankled animal rights activists, who feel the innocent birds were subjected to harsher punishment than the rings’ human organizers. An unrepentant police deputy shrugged off the reaction, noting that the birds had received good homes in the stomachs of his officers.