Cockfighting - 31 birds seized Morristown, TN (US)Incident Date: Friday, Sep 16, 2005 County: Hamblen Local Map: available Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: Jose Cortez
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Jose Cortez allegedly admitted past involvement in cockfighting in Guatemala, but birds and other evidence seized at his Morristown home on the afternoon of Sept 16 suggests he continues to practice the blood sport in Tennessee, according to one official.
Authorities confiscated 31 fighting cocks, as well as new and used cockfighting "spurs" or "blades," according to Richard Hart, an animal-control officer with the Morristown-Hamblen Humane Society.
The spurs or blades are affixed to fighting cocks' legs, and are designed to slash, and ultimately kill, their opponents.
"These were very aggressive birds," Hart said. "They were trying to get at us through the boxes. They were pecking and trying to get at us through whatever openings they could find."
Accompanied by members of the Morristown Police Department, animal-control officers executed a search warrant at Lopez's Howerton Drive residence Friday afternoon looking for evidence that could link him to cockfighting.
In addition to the birds and spurs, Hart says, authorities found cockfighting "muffs" � rubberized objects designed to simulate spurs � a video of a cock fight that appears to have been recorded in Hamblen County, one or more cockfighting magazines and "Rooster Booster."
Rooster Booster is a liquid concoction Hart likened to steroids for chickens. The manufacturer of product represents it to be for adult roosters only, and advertises it's useful in creating "champion birds."
Hart says other evidence confiscated Friday afternoon includes scales, which could be used for weighing roosters, and medicine to treat wounded birds.
The roosters were housed in approximately 50 pens Cortez maintains on his property.
Humane society personnel did not confiscate approximately 25 hens found there because hens are not used in cockfighting, according to Hart.
Cortez, 41, faces one count of cockfighting, a misdemeanor offense. Hart cited Cortez into Hamblen County General Sessions Court in lieu of arrest, and the defendant is scheduled to be arraigned later this week.
Cortez reportedly said he raises fighting cocks in Morristown because "he liked the birds," according to Hart.
"He did make the statement that he had fought birds back in Guatemala," Hart said. "He denied fighting birds here or being involved in fighting birds, but he basically stopped talking about it once we showed him what (evidence) we had found."
The presence of so many chickens inside the Morristown city limits is something of a zoning anomaly.
Either Cortez or another individual who lived at his residence raised hens and roosters before Howerton Drive, which is located off Brights Pike west of Highway 25E, was annexed into the city limits.
For that reason, the small-scale poultry operation was "grandfathered" when Howerton Drive was annexed, so the pens could remain, city officials say.
In fact, it was Cortez's property being inside the Morristown city limits that led to the cockfighting charge and the confiscation of 31 roosters, according to Hart.
The animal-control officer says police were dispatched to Cortez's home Wednesday to investigate a routine alarm call. There, in proximity to the rooster pens, police reportedly spotted sets of the cockfighting muffs.
Police notified Hart, who says he contacted a judge and obtained a search warrant. Neighborhood MapFor more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.
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