Thread: Police see flurry of cockfighting in Valley, nation

Police see flurry of cockfighting in Valley, nation
by Daniel González - Feb. 16, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

The drugged-up roosters bred for fighting are outfitted with a metal blade tied to one ankle. They're released inside a pen, where in a bloody battle of flashing wings and flying feathers, one or the other is left dead or dying - all for the amusement of screaming spectators and gamblers.

Cockfights have been banned in Arizona for more than a decade, but the recent discovery by police of several underground cockfighting operations in Phoenix shows that the blood sport still exists.

The fights typically take place in neighborhoods with large populations of immigrants from Mexico or other countries where cockfighting is popular and legal, authorities say.

The rash of cockfighting busts in Phoenix - four operations have been uncovered since December - corresponds with a flurry of similar raids around the country. Since the start of the year, the Humane Society of the United States has documented at least 28 cockfighting- related cases nationwide.

John Goodwin, the group's manager of animal-fighting issues, said the spate of cockfights was the most he has seen in 12 years.

The poor economy, immigration trends and a growing police awareness of animal fighting are all possible factors behind the spike.

Authorities do not believe the recent arrests point to a resurgence in cockfighting. If anything, the blood sport has declined in popularity sharply since the late 1990s, when Arizona and other states began outlawing cockfights.


Immigration and cockfighting

Most immigrants from countries where cockfighting is popular do not embrace it.

"There are only a small number of people who support this form of animal cruelty," Goodwin said.

Cockfighting is not limited to immigrants or certain ethnic groups. In some parts of the South, the majority of people associated with cockfighting are non-immigrant Whites, Goodwin said.

He and others attribute the recent flurry of cockfighting in Phoenix and other parts of the United States not just to immigration but also to police paying more attention to animal fighting, especially in the wake of the Michael Vick dog-fighting scandal.

Vick, a former Atlanta Falcons quarterback, is serving a 23-month prison sentence for his role in running a dog-fighting operation.

"Immigration is a contributing factor but not the sole factor. More attention is being paid by law enforcement," said Randall Lockwood, senior vice president for the anti-cruelty field service of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.


Bans run up against long history

Arizona was among the first states to make cockfighting illegal.

Persons convicted of being involved in cockfighting operations or possessing cockfighting birds face felony charges and penalties of up to two years in prison and $150,000 in fines. Being a spectator at a cockfight in Arizona is a misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of $25,000.

All 50 states have now passed laws outlawing cockfighting, with New Mexico and Louisiana being the most recent.

Cockfighting can be traced back 4,000 years to the Indus Valley of modern-day India and Pakistan, spreading east to Southeast Asia and China and west to Persia, Greece, Rome and eventually to the Iberian Peninsula. Spanish and French colonists introduced cockfighting to the Americas.

"Cockfighting has always been in existence," said Carlos Vélez-Ibáñez, an anthropologist and chairman of the transborder-studies department at Arizona State University.

Several U.S. presidents, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, were "great cockfighting enthusiasts," he said.

Cockfighting remains popular in Mexico and other parts of Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as in China and Southeast Asia, especially among males in rural areas and working-class neighborhoods, he said.


Roosters are fed vitamins

Roosters bred for cockfighting are fed vitamins and special meals, and their blood lines are carefully documented, Vélez-Ibáñez said.

"They are treated very well, but their ending is not very nice," he said.

He believes there is a link between immigration and an upswing in cockfighting arrests around the nation.

"Every time you have immigrants or migrants from Mexico or the Caribbean or migrants from Southeast Asia," you are going to see more cockfighting, Vélez-Ibáñez said. He estimated, however, that less than 10 percent of immigrants are involved in cockfighting.

The economic crisis, which has hit immigrant communities particularly hard, may also be driving an increase in cockfighting activity, he said.

"Anytime you have an economic downturn, you are going to find ways to make a buck," Vélez-Ibáñez said.

The owner of a cockfighting operation discovered last year in Wittmann, a small town northwest of Phoenix, told sheriff's deputies that he had charged spectators $10 admission to watch roosters fight. Sometimes, the man told deputies, he sold up to 100 tickets per event.


Other crimes lead police to rings

Police discovered several of the cockfighting operations in Phoenix while investigating other crimes, said Luis Samudio, a spokesman for Phoenix police.


On Jan. 5, police investigating a suspect in a home invasion and robbery searched a tire shop on East Broadway Road in south Phoenix and found 31 roosters and a ring that was used for cockfighting.

Three people arrested in connection with the investigation were in the country illegally, including one person with a felony conviction who had previously been deported and had re-entered the United States, police said.

On Feb. 4, police serving a search warrant at a residence on South Ninth Street in south Phoenix found 100 roosters that were being raised for cockfighting. The birds were euthanized by Arizona Humane Society staff.

The animal-cruelty division of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has seen an increase in recent weeks in cockfighting complaints, with one or two complaints coming in a week. As a result, the office is investigating several underground cockfighting operations, Detective Rob Simonson said.

He said cockfighting activity in the Valley typically increases in the winter months because the birds don't like to fight in the heat.

The birds are typically injected with vitamins and steroids; sometimes tequila is rubbed on the roosters to make them more agitated before a fight, Simonson said.

www.azcentral.com

The activity is still legal in Puerto Rico and there are illicit websites offering it online.

The version of this story that ran in our paper amazes me. They refer to it as "Rooster Fights" rather than cockfighting. and there is absolutely no mention of that this is an "ethnic sport of Hispanics." It is fascinating to hear that there is an increase in the activity, because they typically treat it as one of the worst crimes you can imagine even though it has been part of the Hispanic culture for centuries.

Published: 02.16.2009

Rooster fights increasing around Phoenix
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHOENIX — Cockfighting has been against the law in Arizona for more than a decade. But that hasn't stopped fight organizers from conducting bloody battles between roosters armed with metal blades tied to an ankle.
Since December, four operations have been uncovered in Phoenix.
On Feb. 4, Phoenix police served a search warrant at a residence in south Phoenix and found 100 roosters that were being raised for cockfighting.
The birds were later put down by Arizona Humane Society staff.
John Goodwin, the Humane Society of the United States' manager of animal-fighting issues, said the spate of cockfights was the most he has seen in 12 years.
The poor economy, immigration trends and a growing police awareness of animal fighting are all possible factors leading to a spike in rooster fighting.
Authorities do not believe the recent arrests point to a resurgence in cockfighting.
"There are only a small number of people who support this form of animal cruelty," Goodwin said.
Those convicted of involvement in cockfighting operations or possessing cockfighting birds face felony charges and penalties of up to two years in prison and $150,000 in fines.
The owner of a cockfighting operation discovered last year in Wittmann, northwest of Phoenix, told Maricopa County sheriff's deputies that he had charged spectators $10 admission to watch roosters fight. Sometimes, the man told deputies, he sold up to 100 tickets per event.
Spectators who get caught attending a cockfight in Arizona face a misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of $25,000.
All 50 states have now passed laws outlawing cockfighting, with New Mexico and Louisiana being the most recent.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/280430