Free Republic

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The chickens have come home to roost for Los Angeles city dwellers who keep roosters. The City Council on Tuesday passed an ordinance that—with few exceptions—allows only one rooster per property. It was spurred by complaints over noise and hygiene and concerns over illegal cockfighting. Janice Hahn, who authored the bill, says it will give residents of her district some peace and quiet. Neighborhoods from the harbor to the San Fernando Valley are sometimes annoyed by concerts from crowing roosters. Real estate developer Michael Mekeel says tenants of his Panorama City development have had to turn...

KAPOWSIN, Wash. - Investigators from Seattle police and the Pierce County Sheriff's Department say they've busted a cock-fighting ring operating in southeastern Pierce County. Investigators seized more than 50 roosters at the suspected cock-fighting operation near Kapowsin Friday. Investigators from several agencies are raiding a property in the 32400 block of Meridian Avenue East near the small town of Kapowsin where the alleged ring operated, said Pierce County Sheriff's Department spokesman Ed Troyer. Sheriff's SWAT and Meth Lab teams entered the property Friday to serve search warrants. So far, they've recovered 51 cocks and are rounding up more birds, said...

New Mexico cockfighters have filed a federal lawsuit seeking $77 million, claiming their civil rights were violated in the state's enforcement of a 2007 law banning the bloodsport. The class-action lawsuit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Las Cruces. It challenges whether authorities had probable cause to make arrests and euthanize roosters during raids at New Mexico farms. State Attorney General Gary King is listed among 11 defendants. His office declined to comment. The cockfighters' latest legal effort comes less than a week after the New Mexico Court of Appeals upheld the state law outlawing cockfighting.

WATERBURY, Conn. - From a garage near an abandoned factory in the south end of town, the sound was unmistakable: roosters - lots of them - squawking in the night. It's an odd noise to hear in the middle of this city, the former brass capital of the world. But police in Waterbury, about 30 miles southwest of Hartford, knew exactly what they were dealing with recently when they gathered outside the squawking garage. It was another cockfight.

BATON ROUGE -- Some call it a blood sport. Others call it a way of life. But whatever the view, as of Friday cockfighting will be illegal in Louisiana, the last state in the nation to outlaw it. Those on both sides of the battle to end the spectacle that pits roosters with razor-sharp gaffs on their feet in a fight to the death, concede that the law will not eliminate the practice, but only send it deeper into the shadows. "You will have people saying they are going to keep fighting their roosters, " despite the law, said Chris...

PEDRO MARTINEZ CAUGHT AT COCKFIGHT PEDRO'S FOWL BALL February 7, 2008 -- A sickening video of New York Mets pitcher Pedro Martinez and legendary Hall of Famer Juan Marichal laughing at a gruesome cockfight in the Dominican Republic was posted - and then quickly taken off - YouTube. Martinez and Marichal, among the best pitchers of all time, are seen grinning before releasing two roosters. Cockfighting is both legal and popular in the Dominican Republic. The pair took part as honorary "soltadores" - the word used to describe the person who throws the animal into the ring. The bird released...

CHAPARRAL, N.M. — Six roosters were shipped to animal control authorities in Albuquerque after a raid on an alleged cockfight in southern New Mexico, but 138 other roosters were euthanized, officials said.

SAN DIEGO -- More than 5,000 trained birds have been seized in what authorities said Monday was the largest cockfighting bust in U.S. history. Agents found 4,400 birds Saturday at a 7-acre compound in the Otay Mesa industrial area of San Diego, near the Mexican border. More than 2,500 birds were seized at the same place six years ago in what was then the largest bust in history. Hundreds more birds were found at a second training ground nearby, officials said. Other stings have resulted in more arrests but none have produced more birds, said John Goodwin, manager of animal...

SAN DIEGO – More than 5,000 birds were seized and 50 people were arrested in what's being called the largest cockfighting raid in U.S. history, authorities announced Monday. Several law enforcement agencies took part in a raid that was carried out in several locations Saturday in South County, said San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis. The largest of the raids was at a seven-acre compound in Otay Mesa near the border, where 4,400 birds including roosters, hens and chicks were found. “For years this particular site has been a bird factory – raising and training hundreds of roosters for illegal...

The Washington Post reports on a federal lawsuit seeking to clarify a Clinton Administration animal cruelty law. At issue: Whether online transmissions of cockfights from countries where the "sport" is legal can be sold to viewers in the U.S.: One evening last week, two roosters in a ring surrounded by cheering spectators pecked and clawed one another in a fight to the death. With each lunge, feathers flew, then floated to the ground. Finally, one bloodied bird, its eyes plucked out, lurched and faltered."Red is blinded," shouted the announcer. "Red goes down. ... Now he's really hurt. ... A tremendous...

Police: Cheering Men Lead To 'Professional' Cockfighting Operation Massive Grave Of Dead Birds, $25,000 In Cash Found A large group of cheering men in a rural part of Polk County led to the arrests of 17 men on suspicion they were taking part in a cockfighting operation described as "very professional" by the county sheriff. Officers raided a rural area of Polk County Monday and found a massive grave of freshly killed roosters, drawers full of sharp fighting spurs for birds and $25,000 in cash. A bloody fighting box where the roosters apparently fought to the death was also found...

Editor's Note:Eric Sakach attended about a dozen dogfights as an undercover investigator for the Humane Society. Here, he gives AJC reporter Drew Jubera an insider's account. The precautions taken to avoid detection are pretty extraordinary. In one case [in Arkansas], we were told to arrive at a motel the day before. Most of the people there were there to attend the same fight. The day of the fight, later in the afternoon, we all received a call and were told to stand outside by our vehicles. A lone pickup truck with a couple of occupants made a slow pass by...

Humane Society pressuring Amazon.com over cockfighting magazines LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The Humane Society of the United States is threatening a lawsuit against Amazon.com Inc., saying the online retailer is violating federal law by selling two magazines that promote cockfighting. The Humane Society sent a letter Tuesday to the retailer, detailing its intention to begin legal action unless the magazines -- ``The Feathered Warrior'' and ``The Gamecock'' -- are removed immediately from the site. Both are mailed from western Arkansas.

After listening to impassioned testimony from cockfighting opponents Thursday, Rep. Jack Smith, D-Franklin, took the microphone with a waggish glint in his eye. "The cafeteria is open," he announced, "and today's special is fried chicken." The House Agriculture Committee was about to polish off the animal lovers. Not that there was any doubt before Smith's sally. This has been going on for decades. Some metropolitan legislator files a bill to ban cockfighting, and it is assigned to a committee dominated by legislators from down the bayous. They hear testimony to the effect that cockfighting is a bloody barbarism that brings...

A Richland County senator says the University of South Carolina needs to rethink its “Fighting Gamecock” mascot if the Legislature passes tougher penalties on cockfighting. If the bill passes, “how can we as lawmakers and other leaders of this state justify a major institution in our state running ads and logos on billboards with a fighting gamecock with spurs on the feet?” asked Sen. Darrell Jackson. Jackson’s question came as Attorney General Henry McMaster testified before a Senate subcommittee asking lawmakers to pass a bill raising the penalties for cockfighting, which currently is a $100 fine. The panel took no...

Registration protest Nancy Falster in Austin They yelled, they cursed and they cried, and in the end, the people who testified Thursday persuaded state commission members to delay a requirement that livestock owners register their animals with the government. The Texas Animal Health Commission, acting on a bill passed by the Legislature, was going to require livestock owners to register their "premises," a rule that would include listing the kinds of animals they have, though not the number. The proposal is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's plan to tag animals so they can be tracked to prevent the...

An Oklahoma state senator wants to outfit fighting roosters with tiny boxing gloves in a bid to take the gore out of the controversial blood sport of cockfighting. A Texas legislator proposed prohibiting weathercasters from calling themselves "meteorologists" if they lack the proper degree. And earlier this month, the Texas House of Representatives approved a bill to curb salacious or "sexually suggestive" high school cheerleading routines. Fortunately, amid consideration of these and other urgent matters, Texas lawmakers still had time to designate the chuck wagon as the official state vehicle and to declare April 14 "Texas Fire Ant Prevention Day"...

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - People convicted of cockfighting would be charged with a felony and face five years in prison and a $5,000 fine under a bill that cleared the House Judiciary Committee on Monday. Currently cockfighting is a misdemeanor with a punishment of 30 days in jail and a $100 fine. South Carolina is one of 17 states where cockfighting is a misdemeanor. It's a felony in 31 states. House Judiciary Chairman Jim Harrison, R-Columbia, said the legislation could have failed in his committee, but the turnout of cockfighting enthusiasts changed people's minds. There were people wanting to keep...

LANCASTER, Calif. -- Twenty-one people were arrested and 93 fighting roosters were confiscated when a sheriff's deputy showed up at the start of a desert cockfight. Acting on a tip from a woman who reported seeing a van filled with men and hearing roosters crowing inside, the deputy broke up the event, which had been staged for bettors Sunday morning. More than 60 men were gathered around a cockfighting arena when the deputy arrived, said Sgt. Darrel Brown of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Most of the men fled but 21 were arrested and cited. It is a misdemeanor...

by Jason Copeland, KGRN, Grinnell Several chickens that cops believe were being raised for cock fighting have been rescued in Marshalltown. Marshalltown police served a search warrant at a Marshalltown residence on Friday. Six chickens were found along with knives, spurs, and other items associated with cock fights. Information obtained during that search led to the search of another residence where an estimated 50 to 60 more chickens were discovered. Ignacio Lizarde-Herra and Juan Sanchez Armas are both charged with multiple counts of raising chickens for fighting and possession of such birds. They are also charged with raising poultry in...