Doesn’t that title simply sound absurd? When I picture a canary, it’s always a cute little singing yellow bird—something like Tweety from Looney Tunes. I’ve always found it cruel to have birds in cages anyway—even though some of my friends do have birds as pets. I know if I had wings, I’d much rather use them in the wide open air than in someone’s stuffy house.

And canary cruelty is already familiar to some of us. You may know that canaries were used by miners to warn them if deadly gases were present. Though modern miners thankfully use more humane methods of detection—such as carbon monoxide monitors and detectors—they used to take canaries (or mice) in groups of three into the mines, and if they showed signs of “distress”—meaning they died, typically—the miners knew it wasn’t safe to follow suit. Canaries have also been used in lab research as well.

But I would never think of canaries as fighting birds—would you? I know cockfighting was legal in my state for many years—that’s what I normally think of when “bird fights” are mentioned. I used to protest it vehemently as a kid, much to my elders’ annoyance—until it was banned, along with bear fighting and other animal death-sports, in 1998. Since then, the “sport” has been outlawed all across the country—and has been banned in countries such as Wales and England for over 100 years.

In Connecticut, there’s at least one canary fighting operation going on. 19 people have been arrested after over 100 canaries were rescued from a home where they were actually being prepared to fight Sunday morning.

How exactly do you prep a canary for a fighting match? Sing “Eye of the Tiger” to it? Teach it to bob along with “Hair of the Dog”?

After all, canaries are supposed to be songbirds, and my misgivings aside, they’re supposed to make great pets as well. Since they usually nest in groups within their natural habitats, you might think that they’re peaceful birds, and that it would be pretty hard to get them to fight with one another.

Apparently they also have a nasty steak, and are able to get aggressive and able to fight, particularly if it’s breeding season. No matter if they’re the nicest birds on the block or the avian bully, no bird deserves to be used in such sports. Hopefully each of these rescued birds will be able to find a good home.