Over 100 chickens dead, necks snapped
Winlock, WA (US)Incident Date: Thursday, Apr 10, 2008
County: Lewis
Disposition: Open
Case Images: 1 files available
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Authorities say dozens of dead roosters and hens found dumped off a gravel road outside Winlock all had their necks broken.
The sheriff's office is investigating if the unusual find is related to cockfighting.
Steve Garrett, environmental health specialist with Lewis County Department of Health and Social Services, was among the first to check out the site after it was discovered Sunday morning.
They were really nice looking animals, he said.
Some were hens, some roosters and even chicks, he said. The roosters' spurs had been removed, something done to animals raised for fighting.
"It is very suspicious," Garrett said.
An animal cruelty investigator from King County also traveled to Winlock to look over the find.
"Every rooster I saw had its spurs cut off or sanded down," Kim Koon said on Thursday afternoon.
Koon, who works for the non-profit Pasado's Safe Haven in Sultan, contacted the man who made the find and the sheriff's office, she said.
The man who found them said he was scouting out a place for turkey hunting and came upon what looked at first to be a bunch of chickens roosting on a hillside, she said. Then he realized they were dead.
"He said he stopped counting at 104," Koon said.
Koon said she got permission to take eight and get them examined by a veterinarian.
The necropsies showed the hens had been laying, the roosters' spurs had been cut or sanded by humans and their necks were broken, she said.
Pasado's Safe Haven is an organization founded in Bellevue about 15 years ago by a woman who was outraged about a donkey named Pasado which had been beaten to death. Its passion is preventing animal cruelty, Koon said.
Garrett, who is responsible for handling the dumping of possibly hazardous materials, said three of the animals were collected and handed over to the state veterinarian. They will be checking for bird diseases.
Garrett estimated the dump site contained 30 to 50 birds when he visited.
He arranged for a crew to remove the rest of the chickens on Thursday morning.
The sheriff's office Chief Criminal Deputy Pat Smith said the dump site was off of King Road. The bands on the chickens' legs could not be traced, he said.
He doesn't know if the find is related to the apparent cockfighting broken up on Sunday evening in Centralia, but the timing is unusual.
Smith, a more than 20 year veteran of the sheriff's office, said he can't recall a cockfighting case in Lewis County.
They appear to be the same kind of birds as Centralia police seized, and their spurs had been removed.
"We suspect the two cases are related," Smith said. References« WA State Animal Cruelty Map
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