Thread: Cockfighting Raid Results in 145 Arrests

Headlines Tuesday 1/30/07

http://www.sbsun.com/ci_5116370

San Bernardino, CA, 1/30/2007


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A deadly game
Raid on cockfight finds dozens of roosters
Melissa Pinion-Whitt, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 01/30/2007 12:00:00 AM PST


BEAUMONT - Vendors serve alcohol and sell T-shirts, cowboy hats and boots.
Spectators gather in the hundreds to place wagers on the main attraction - cockfighting.

Riverside County animal-control officers find about 10 of these events a year, ranging from huge outdoor events to smaller gatherings.

Riverside County sheriff's deputies stumbled on an event Saturday at which they found more than 100 live and dead roosters. Some 200 spectators, including the organizer, fled before authorities could arrest them.

"We're going to go through records to find out who the actual property owner is and go after the homeowner for felonies, reference the animal cruelty and the dead roosters," Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez said Monday.

Deputies came to a home in the 14000 block of California Avenue at 2:10 p.m. after an anonymous caller saw a large gathering at the home and heard loud sounds of roosters. Deputies saw about 70 cars parked outside. By the time they entered the backyard, the spectators had run to the hills west of the property.

Deputies found cockfighting gear, including gaffs - razor-sharp spurs placed on the birds' feet - and sparring mitts worn
to agitate the birds into fighting, Gutierrez said. The cockfighting ring was concealed under a shack in the backyard. A sign indicating the event coordinator charged $20 admission was posted outside the ring, deputies said.
Animal-control officers seized 92 live roosters and 39 dead ones. Six badly injured birds were euthanized, sheriff's officials said.

The birds remained with the Riverside County Department of Animal Services, but because cockfighting roosters are bred to be aggressive, they cannot be adopted by the public.

"That's the sad part is we get them out of a bad situation and all we can do is euthanize them," said Lori Neddermann, adoption program chief and former animal-control officer.

Rita Gutierrez, interim commander for the department's field services, said it is difficult to see the way the losing roosters are treated.

"If your bird loses, it's just thrown to the side," she said. "There are other instances where the fight takes place on a farm. A lot of times, they're discarded right into the pig pen so the pig can eat them."

Anyone with information concerning this incident or other criminal activity may call the sheriff's Cabazon station, (951) 922-7100.

Contact writer Melissa Pinion- Whitt at (909) 386-3878 or via e-mail at melissa.pinion- whitt@sbsun.com.

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The issue is a little tricky because most of those arrested this month are Latinos. Lawmakers have been resistant to raising the penalties for a pastime that has been prevalent in rural Virginia for generations.

Code:

It could be perceived as discriminatory,

advocates for immigrant rights say, for the legislature to change its tune at a time when cockfighting among immigrants is attracting attention.

Give me a Break!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SOSADFORUS,
you left out "Dog fighting"

100 birds, dead and alive, found in Beaumont cockfighting ring

NORTH COUNTY TIMES
JANUARY 29, 2007

By: Associated Press -

BEAUMONT, Calif. -- More than 100 birds, dead and alive, were found in a cockfighting ring by deputies responding to a call about a large gathering at a residence.

About 200 men fled into the hills west of the home when deputies arrived Saturday afternoon, Sgt. Jeronimo Contreras said in a news release.

A sign charging a $20 admission fee was posted outside a makeshift cockfighting ring. The deputies confiscated cockfighting gear, including gaffs and sparring mitts, the sergeant said.


Animal control officers found 92 live roosters and 39 dead roosters, Contreras said. Six roosters had to be euthanized because they were badly injured, he said.

The homeowner couldn't be found. There were no arrests.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/01 ... _29_07.txt

Comments On This Story

Note: Comments reflect the views of readers and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff.

Skip wrote on January 29, 2007 8:52 PM:"Like if I didn't know. I wonder what kind of people would go to a cockfighting contest?"

Skip wrote on January 29, 2007 9:04 PM:"I found over 15 different versions of this story and the information that I wanted was not there. I did find my suspected results in another story. In North Carolina, a Jan. 21, "cockfighting" raid in Mecklenburg County, on the North Carolina border, resulted in the arrests of 122 people, about 75 percent of them from other states, mostly North Carolina. Twenty-two of those arrested were illegal aliens whom the Department of Homeland Security is deporting, and many of them were members of alien gangs such as the Mexican Mafia and MS-13, Fox said."