(Allegan County, January 2, 2004, 5:16 p.m.) The Allegan County Prosecutors Office has issued 11 felony warrants in connection with an alleged cockfighting ring.

Two of the warrants are for possession of fighting animals, two for possession of a facility that housed cockfighting, and seven for attending an illegal animal fight.

Officials confiscated more than 160 birds since they raided a Clyde Township barn last weekend. No arrests have been made. Authorities say they are making arrangements for the suspects to turn themselves in.

Source:  http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1585404&nav=0RceJxx7

Police issue arrest warrants for 9 in cockfighting ring
Four people from Michigan are wanted in connection with illegal animal fighting incident
By RICHARD HARROLD
Staff writer

Arrest warrants were issued Friday for nine people in connection with a cockfighting ring in Allegan County, officials said.

Four Michigan residents and five people living in other states are identified in the 11 warrants, Allegan County Sheriff's Lt. Rick Cain said Friday.

Two warrants are for possession of fighting animals and two are for possession of a facility that housed fighting stock, both felonies that carry five-year sentences if convicted. The seven other warrants are for attending an illegal animal fight, a four-year felony.

They were issued following a second raid Monday on a Clyde Township residence in the 2200 block of 54th Street, when another 141 fighting roosters were seized, along with other records and items, including steroids apparently used on the birds.

"I've been doing this for a long time and I didn't know anything about chickens," Cain said. "Now I know everything."

With the 141 additional roosters confiscated Monday, police have seized 168 birds since the cockfighting activity was discovered Dec. 27.

A special court hearing will be held next week to determine what will happen to the seized birds, which are being held for the time being at an undisclosed location, Cain said.

The Allegan County Prosecutor's Office is working through attorneys representing the nine people sought in the warrants to see if they will turn themselves in to police voluntarily.

Two Clyde Township residents are sought and two other Michigan residents. The other five people being sought live in Indiana and Illinois.

Allegan sheriff's deputies and detectives were tipped off Dec. 26 to suspected cockfighting activity at a Clyde Township residence. After watching the residence and stopping people who were leaving the house, police secured a warrant and searched the place early Dec. 27.

Seized during that first raid were an undisclosed amount of cash, cockfighting videos, fighting paraphernalia, an unregistered pistol and 21 birds trained as fighting cocks.

Fourteen dead birds were discovered as well, police said, which had apparently died from injuries sustained in fights.

Police said the birds had been "modified" in that their spurs had been removed and covered with bandages. Also taken during the first raid were "fighting instruments," typically razors that are attached to the bird's leg in the spot where the spur was located.

Cockfight organizers frequently modify the birds this way so that they can inflict greater damage on an opposing bird, according to animal protection organizations.