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Cockfighting - 25 birds seized
Flemington, NJ (US)

Incident Date: Sunday, Sep 18, 2011
County: Hunterdon

Disposition: Alleged

Alleged: Elbert Valverde

A local man is facing a criminal charge after authorities broke up a cockfighting operation, according to the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office.

Elbert Valverde, 31, is charged with possession of fighting birds and was being held on $20,000 bail earlier this week after New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals officials and Raritan Township police participated in a Sunday raid on an address on Route 31, Prosecutor Anthony P. Kearns III said.

A total of 25 birds were seized during the raid, Kearns added; all of them had to be euthanized because they had been groomed to fight and were deemed unfit to be relocated to live with other animals.

Cockfighting is a sport in which two roosters specifically bred and trained to exhibit aggressive tendencies are placed in a small ring and encouraged to fight until one is incapacitated, a practice that often results in the death of the losing bird, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The phenomenon was popular thousands of years ago in Asia and Europe before spreading to the Americas in the 1700s and 1800s, and for a time it was particularly widespread in the colonial United States.

Cockfighting today involves roosters being injected with steroids to make them more violent, and tiny stabbing instruments even being affixed to the birds' legs to make them more lethal - in an incident that made international headlines earlier this year, a 35-year-old California man actually died after being stabbed by a rooster that had been so equipped for a fight.

The sport is illegal in all 50 states, often drawing criticism from animal rights organizations and foes of illicit gambling, but punishment for being involved with it varies from state to state.

A Humane Society of the United States rankings list placed New Jersey at No. 10 in the nation among states with the strictest laws against cockfighting.

Running a cockfighting operation here, possession of fighting birds and even being a spectator at a cockfight all are third-degree crimes punishable by 3-5 years in prison and fines of $3,000 to $5,000.

Sunday's raid was one of several similar operations to take place in New Jersey during recent years; cockfighting rings in Newark, Jersey City and Hamilton Township have been taken down during the last 15 months alone.

And in August 2009 a 78-year-old Old Bridge man was arrested at his home and charged with more than 100 counts of animal cruelty after authorities found 38 roosters that he allegedly had been breeding for cockfighting.

References

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