Cockfighting - 200 birds seized
Plata, NM (US)Incident Date: Thursday, Mar 5, 2009
County: San Juan
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Alleged
Abuser names unreleased
Nearly 100 cockfighting roosters were confiscated from a La Plata residence Thursday night following a raid on what state officials dubbed "a major breeding operation."
More than 100 breeding hens also were confiscated at the County Road 1764 home, in addition to illegal antibiotics and performance-enhancing drugs for the birds, cockfighting DVDs, and fight training equipment, including an enclosed area where birds could spar, according to the San Juan County Sheriff's Office. No fighting blades were found.
Four of the roosters confiscated were being prepared for a fight within the next two weeks, authorities said. Some of the 200 chickens confiscated from the home were injured.
No arrest was made Thursday, Undersheriff Mark McCloskey said. The Sheriff's Office declined to identify the man under investigation for cockfighting and other related crimes.
The District Attorney's Office will "take a look at it and decide what the appropriate charges are" today, McCloskey said.
Because cockfighting birds are given illegal performance-enhancing chemicals, the chickens typically cannot be adopted out and likely will be destroyed, Animal Control Officer Connie Jordan said.
The raid on fighting roosters, which occurred around 5:30 p.m. Thursday, was the first in San Juan County following the June 2007 ban on cockfighting in New Mexico.
Although cockfighting in the state is a petty misdemeanor on first offense, investigators often find a range of felony crimes associated with cockfighting operations, including drug trafficking and gambling, said Heather Ferguson, coordinator for the Attorney General's Animal Cruelty Task Force, which will aid the San Juan County investigation.
"What we find is that we go in there on a warrant for misdemeanor cockfighting, we come out with over 50 felonies on other things," Ferguson said. "Law enforcement swiftly taking action (Thursday) is going to send a message to the community."
No evidence of organized gambling or drug trafficking was found at the County Road 1764 residence, McCloskey said.
Ferguson will travel to San Juan County this weekend to inspect the fighting birds.
Authorities first identified the breeding operation in La Plata following a tip to San Juan County Crime Stoppers on Wednesday. The majority of the kept chickens at the residence were visible from the street.
According to Ferguson, some people don't know that cockfighting is illegal in New Mexico. Others can be afraid to report a cockfighter.
"We know people are fearful of coming forward," she said. "They need to get this scourge and this center of criminal activity out of their communities, and to do so they need to turn them in."
To encourage citizen reports, Animal Protection of New Mexico has offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of animal fighters through a statewide hotline at 888-260-2178.
Authorities are following other cockfighters in northwest New Mexico, the Attorney General's taskforce coordinator said.
"I have several reports and many things under investigation up in that area," Ferguson said of San Juan County animal fighting. "This is one of many." References |
