By Jayne Hustead staff writer
February 28, 2004
INDIAN RIVER COUNTY -- More than 1,000 trained killers
were taken into custody Friday.
And more of the murderous roosters are being sought by the Indian River
County Sheriff's Office, as it cracks down on cockfighting in the county, a
bloody sport where two roosters equipped with razor-sharp steel spurs fight to
the death, brutally slicing each other in the process. Three men investigators say have been breeding, selling and fighting the
roosters at four sites in Fellsmere -- Antonio Lopez, 43, Willis Wilson, 58, and
Charles Buck Raulerson, 51 -- have been arrested and charged with raising the
birds for staged fights, a third-degree felony in the state since June. The
crime is punishable by up to five years in prison. The undercover investigation, dubbed "Operation Birddog" and led by Deputy
Gary Smith and Lt. Bud Spencer, has helped to dismantle "the largest
cockfighting network in the state," said Sheriff Roy Raymond, a longtime
Fellsmere area resident with a 10-acre farm just south of the city. He said
undercover help was provided by the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office.
Raymond said the birds are worth at least $500,000. During the investigation,
undercover agents purchased two birds for $300 each, but reported one bird had a
$10,000 price tag, he said.
"The sheer number of animals is something we have never seen before," said
Joan Carlson, executive director of the local Humane Society.
And another 500 birds likely will be found as the 15-month undercover
investigation continues through at least today, Raymond said Friday morning. "We
have identified others in the county keeping a smaller number of birds. (This is
a warning) to get out of the business or go to jail. We are not going to
tolerate cockfighting in this county."
Under cover of early morning darkness, 70 members of the Sheriff's Office and
both The Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River County and The Humane
Society of the United States swooped down on the rural sites where they found
many of the birds tethered by their legs on short leashes.
Laura Bevan, director of the Southeast Regional Office of the national Humane
Society in Tallahassee and a drafter of the "The Animal Fighting Bill" passed by
the state Legislature on June 24, said the bust was the largest undertaking the
organization has worked anywhere in the country.
The law makes it illegal to possess, breed, train or sell the game fowl for
the purpose of fighting regardless of where they might be sold or shipped.
Cockfighting has been illegal in Florida since 1985, but it has not been
against the law to breed the birds and ship them to Louisiana or New Mexico,
where cockfighting is legal, or to other states less concerned about stopping
cockfights, such as Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, Raymond said.
Raymond and Bevan also said that there often is a relationship between animal
abuse and child and spouse abuse, an area they also would be investigating.
A few of the birds were examined on site by local veterinarians before being
placed in cat cages and hauled on flatbed trucks to the Humane Society on 77th
Street for shelter and eventual euthanization.
Veterinarians George Jutras, of Sebastian, and David Kilpatrick, of Vero
Beach, said the small sample they examined at a breeding farm on the corner of
County Road 512 and 125th Court, one of two farms allegedly run by Lopez, had
cuts on their necks and eye problems and were largely underweight.
Most of the roosters also were missing their top combs and the wattles
beneath their beaks. Breeders slice them off with scissors, without anesthetic,
Raymond said during the investigation of Wilson's alleged breeding farm on 134th
Court off 103rd St.
By Friday afternoon, owners of many of the birds had relinquished possession
and ownership to the local Humane Society, according to Sheriff's Office
spokesman Deputy Joe Flescher.
"This will make it easier to assure the birds (die) with dignity instead of
(from) the torture they were certain to face," he said. Otherwise, the Humane
Society must go to court and seek custody of the animals.
Source: http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/local_news/article/0,1651,TCP_16736_2689293,00.html