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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, jointly with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other law enforcement partners, executed search warrants in Southern Mississippi that resulted in multiple arrests involving illegal immigration, cockfighting, and other criminal activity. The search warrants were part of an ongoing undercover investigation into the unlawful cockfighting in Harrison County, Mississippi. The arrests included United States citizens and suspected illegal aliens found at the site of the makeshift animal fights attended by some people from outside Mississippi. Two defendants, Alvin Smith III and Herbert Kasey Smith, were charged with violating the Animal Welfare Act for hosting the...

By Nyah Marshall | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com Funny Farm Rescue and Sanctuary in Atlantic County initially agreed this month to take in four roosters rescued from an alleged cockfighting ring. But, when a truck arrived, there were 60 noisy birds instead. “My volunteer called me and said, ‘Oh, there’s a couple more than what you had thought,’” Laurie Zaleski, founder of Funny Farm Rescue and Sanctuary said on Wednesday. “I went there and the roosters were in cat carriers and there was 60 of them,” Zaleski said. “They were all crowing simultaneously and I literally almost started to...

Authorities in Santa Cruz county busted a cockfighting operation Thursday morning. Santa Cruz County Animal Control Officers and the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office served a search warrant on a property on Ranport Road in Watsonville early Thursday morning. During the search, about 200 chickens – both roosters and hens – were seized. There were also dozens of cages, cockfighting weapons, and a ring on the property, typically used for fights. Additionally, several emaciated dogs and puppies with severe health problems were also found on the property. Detectives also discovered several firearms, including assault rifles and high capacity magazines. Two...

MEXICO CITY — Gunmen massacred 20 people on Sunday night in a suspected gangland attack at a clandestine cockfighting venue in western Mexico, authorities said, in one of the worst mass shootings under the current government. The killings took place in Las Tinajas in the state of Michoacan, where the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) has been fighting local gangs for control of drug routes. “It was a massacre of one group by another,” President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told a regular news conference, expressing his regret at the deaths. He blamed criminal gangs in the area for the...

Here’s one you definitely don’t hear every day; a police officer in the Philippines died during a raid on an illegal cockfighting event when one of the roosters with a blade attached to its leg attacked the cop and caused a fatal wound. The incident transpired Tuesday, Fox reports, while police were attempting to shut down the illegal cockfight being held in Northern Samar. Cockfighting is actually legal in the region on Sundays and on certain holidays, however due to COVID, all events have been outlawed for the entire year. Officials reported that Lieutenant Christian Bolok encountered the rooster while...

Officer was taking part in raid on cockfights when one of the birds severed his femoral artery Ch Lt Christian Bolok, who was in his mid-30s, was trying to grab a cockerel when one of its gaffs – the steel blades attached to its legs – severed his femoral artery, “He was trying to confiscate the roosters,” Ongchuan said, adding that Bolok or his companions had tried to stem his blood loss by tying a cloth around his leg but may have applied the tourniquet in the wrong spot. Cockfighting is a popular pastime and gambling sport in many rural...

Puerto Rico's government Thursday filed an amicus brief in a lawsuit to overturn a federal ban on cockfighting in territories. Puerto Rico Chief of staff Ricardo Llerandi said in a statement the territorial government had joined the lawsuit filed by the Club Gallístico de Puerto Rico against the federal government in a San Juan federal court. "We have made the determination to sign on as friends of the court in this suit. We do not favor this prohibition that would affect families who live on the economy surrounding this sector in Puerto Rico. We have been and we will be...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Congress on Wednesday gave final passage to legislation that would shut down legal cockfights in U.S. territories including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, ending an institution dating from the colonial era that generates millions of dollars each year. Opponents of the measure approved by the House said it will have a devastating effect on the islands' economies, noting that in Puerto Rico alone the cockfighting industry generates $18 million a year and employs some 27,000 people. “We're all going crazy. Everybody is desperate,” said 86-year-old Angel Ortiz, who owns a cockfighting ring in...

PALM COAST, Fla. - A Palm Coast man is accused of running around naked, swearing and yelling at people to look at his genitals while in a Chick-fil-A parking lot, according to Flagler County Sheriff's Office officials. Cory Hatzl, 30, was arrested Monday morning after a woman called authorities around 1 a.m. saying Hatzl was chasing her boyfriend and "trying to fight" him.

Fort Worth police broke up a cockfighting event that ended in the arrests of three men, and 130 birds confiscated, but many had to be euthanized. Officers were called to a home in the 4300 block of Windowmere Street just after 11 a.m. Sunday. Police said 95 cocks, 17 hens and 18 chicks were seized. Seventeen recently-dead cocks were also found on the property. "We humanely euthanized 90 roosters, all who were in some state of suffering," Diane Covey with the Fort Worth Animal Shelter said via email. "Some of the roosters were still wearing gaffs, they were bleeding from...

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Prized birds faced off in front of thousands of spectators at a stadium near Thailand's capital on Sunday as celebrations for the Year of the Rooster brought a windfall for some. Although cockfighting is banned in many countries on grounds of animal cruelty, it is a lucrative business in Thailand as well as a popular pastime. Sunday's top bird sold for over $70,000. "This year is a very good year for us. It's the year of the golden rooster. The value of the roosters has gone up," said Banchej Changyai, 55, who was running the contest south...

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April 2, 2014 After attending pro-cockfighting rally, Senate candidate Matt Bevin says it's a state issue BY SAM YOUNGMAN Matt Bevin, left, is challenging incumbent Mitch McConnell in therace to be the GOP's nominee in Kentucky's U.S. Senate race. Republican U.S. Senate candidate Matt Bevin believes the legality of cockfighting should be decided by states and not the federal government, his spokeswoman said Wednesday following a news report that Bevin attended a pro-cockfighting rally over the weekend."Matt doesn't believe this is a federal issue, and the state government can handle it," said Rachel Semmel, Bevin's spokeswoman.The News Journal in Corbin...

Nine people were arrested and some 3,000 fighting roosters and hens rescued when New York authorities busted a cockfighting ring they said was one of the biggest ever uncovered in the United States. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced the arrests and said in a statement: "Cockfighting is a cruel, abusive and barbaric practice that tortures animals, endangers the health and safety of the public and is known to facilitate other crimes."

DELANO, Calif. -- A Central California man who was at a cockfight died after being stabbed in the leg by a bird that had a knife attached to its own limb, officials confirmed Monday. Jose Luis Ochoa, 35, of Lamont, was declared dead at a hospital about two hours after he was injured in neighboring Tulare County on Jan. 30, the Kern County coroner said. An autopsy concluded Ochoa died of an accidental "sharp force injury" to his right calf. Sheriff's spokesman Ray Pruitt said it was unclear if a delay in seeking medical attention contributed to Ochoa's death.

EARLIMART, Calif. — A Lamont man was killed earlier this week by a chicken. Jose Luis Ochoa, 35, was stabbed by a knife attached to the leg of a fighting rooster, the Kern County coroner's office said Friday.

Dallas police broke up an alleged cockfighting operation in Southeast Dallas Saturday. The Humane Society of the United States supplied undercover cockfighting video to police that led to the raid at a large run-down building. "Today we found scores of roosters who had been brought to fight to the death with knives tied to their legs," said John Goodwin with the HSUS said in a news release. "Many birds injured in the fights were simply thrown in a pile and left to slowly die. We commend the Dallas Police Department for their quick and efficient action to shut down this...

(English-language translation) A bill announced yesterday by Representative Melinda Romero Donnelly to establish Puerto Rico's first animal registry including pit bulls and paso fino walking horses but not fighting cocks got off on the wrong foot. The legislator said she does not consider cockfighting a sport or a cultural tradition, but rather "abuse" and maintained she will not allow "legalizing an illegal practice such as this one". However, Recreation & Sports Department Secretary Henry Neumann said the bill "is political suicide" and that "it will never be approved". Neumann indicated that cockfights are regulated by the Cockfighting Commission and that...

MODERN CIVIL RIGHTS: COCKFIGHTING AND SAME-SEX PROMSMay 26, 2010 Watching TV this week, at first I thought Republican Senate nominee Rand Paul had flown a commercial jet into the World Trade Center. But then it turned out that he had only said there ought to be discussion about whether federal civil rights laws should be applied to private businesses. This allowed the mainstream media to accuse Paul of being a racist. Twisting a conservative's words in order to accuse him of racism was evidently more urgent news than the fact that the attorney general of the United States admitted last...

HONOLULU, - The Hawaii House Cultural Affairs Committee has passed two resolutions urging the state Legislature to support cockfighting as a cultural activity. The committee held a hearing Monday attended by about 60 supporters of cockfighting, which has been illegal in Hawaii since 1884, and passed resolutions that supported the practice, but did not amount to legalization, KITV, Honolulu, reported Tuesday. "I am sick and tired of them calling us a bunch of hoodlums when we are doing what we enjoy doing," Lloyd Marshall of Waianae said at the hearing. The Hawaiian Humane Society, the Humane Society of the United...