| County plans to kill fighting cocks Staff Writer Last update: 21 January 2004 |
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DELAND -- Volusia County plans to start killing as many as 100
roosters, hens and chicks at 9 a.m. today.
That's when an agreement takes effect giving the county ownership of
120 birds seized in a Dec. 20 raid of an alleged cockfight on Fort Florida
Road in DeBary. County Court Judge Thomas Bevis approved the two
agreements Tuesday, pending a final conversation between one defendant and
his client before the deadline.
"We have screened about 20 places where we can place birds and we are
working with the Humane Society of the United States to find more
locations," said Becky Wilson, director of Volusia County Animal Services.
She said only one bird will be placed at each location.
"We know a number of birds, and it's the majority, are so aggressive we
can't put a hand in the cage when we feed them," Wilson said. "They fly
out at the officers. But, they are raised to be that way."
Wilson said those birds will be euthanized.
Law enforcement officials know occasional cock and dog fighting occurs
in Volusia County, but it is difficult to find and stop. Deputies usually
happen upon a fight in the course of other duties.
The Dec. 20 incident started when Volusia County sheriff's deputies
stopped a car at U.S. 17-92 and Fort Florida Road because of illegally
tinted windows. During the stop, passenger Lucio C. Perez of Zellwood told
officers he owned the five fighting roosters in the car and was taking
them to a cockfight on Fort Florida Road, according to an incident report.
Deputies raided the property at 786 Fort Florida Road. In addition to
those from the car, deputies confiscated another 97 roosters, 13 hens and
five chicks from the site owned by Braulio Barrientos. They also
confiscated metal spurs, cages, a scale, leather boots, medicines and
vitamins associated with cockfights, which have been illegal in Florida
since 1960.
Volusia County filed a petition in county court for ownership of the
birds due to neglect and abuse. Attorney John Guidry of Orlando said Perez
would surrender ownership of the five roosters taken from the car, pay a
share of the county's $620 cost to care for the birds and agree to let the
birds be destroyed. He would not admit to any allegations in the county's
petition.
DeLand attorney Jose Alvarez said landowner Barrientos only recently
hired him regarding the county petition. He asked for a delay, but the
judge ordered him to work out a deal between hearings as the county has
time constraints and incurs daily expenses.
The agreement requires Barrientos to surrender ownership of the 115
birds and pay $100 a month until he pays $1,351.25 for care of the birds
and court costs.
Judge Bevis allowed Alvarez until 9 a.m. today to talk with his client
and notify the county if the agreement is not acceptable.
Perez and Barrientos still face several felony charges.
Wilson said the fighting cocks would be destroyed with a lethal
injection. "These are not pets. They are birds we can't hand out to just
anyone," Wilson said.
Did You Know?
Cockfighting is not the only example of animals being forced to
fight each other.
· Bull-baiting was a 17th-century amusement, particularly popular
in England, in which trained bulldogs attacked a tethered bull. It was
prohibited by Parliament in 1835. As a result of the ban, owners of these
bulldogs began to stage fights between their dogs. Soon, large bulldogs
were crossed with smaller terriers to produce "bull terriers." This marked
the development of the modern sport of dogfighting.
· Dogfighting is illegal in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
-- Compiled by news researcher Karen Duffy from www.petfinder.org, www.hsus.org
and www.animaland.org
Source http://www.news-journalonline.com//NewsJournalOnline/News/WestVolusia/03WVolVOLGOV02012104.htm ...........They bring them as show
birds, but we know better........
COULD WE CALL THIS backbiting, backstabbing, belittlement, calumny, defamation,
depreciation, disparagement, scandal
OR JUST
PLAIN SLANDER?
New law tough on cockfighting Illegal sport popular By Alex Gronke Their fine accommodations are not for comfort but for safety. Without chicken wire and space to separate them, these roosters would rip each other to bloody shreds with rapier-sharp beaks, toenails and spurs. Their owner said these roosters will never fight. And he said he keeps the site secret so cock fighters won't steal his flock. It is a real danger: Police say cockfighting is popular in San Joaquin County, and a tough anti-cockfighting law that went into effect this month is unlikely to halt the sport. For millennia, nature and man have bred the male of the species Gallus for brutality. The Tracy roosters are bred for beauty. This 36-year-old Tracy farmer and carpenter has raised show birds since he was 13. He says his birds have won competitions where roosters are judged for such traits as the length of their feathers, the bulk of their frames, the size of their legs and the smallness of their heads. He does not want his name used for fear his roosters will be stolen and forced to fight to the death as spectators gamble on the victor. From the breeder's perspective, it is important his avian charges pass down their winning traits to a new generation rather than die in bloody battles with razors strapped to their spurs. He knows he draws suspicious glances from foes of cockfighting. He also knows there is a subculture of cockfighters who may dishonestly buy one of his birds with plans to enter it in a death match instead of entering it in a county fair livestock show. While cockfighting is
illegal, the raising of show birds is not. A new state law that went into effect January 1 stiffened the penalty for cockfighting. It's still a misdemeanor, but cockfighters can now be punished with a year in jail and a $5,000 fine. Subsequent convictions can earn a recidivist cockfighter more jail time and fines up to $25,000. Gambling on the outcome of cockfights is an ancient pastime. The sport emerged in China and India in the centuries before Christ and made its way across the Middle East to ancient Greece and Rome. In Europe, cockfighting outlasted the Roman Empire. In the 1600s, the sport was wildly popular in England. It is still popular in San Joaquin County. The Stockton Police Department signed on to support the law that raised the penalty for cockfighting in California. In 2003, the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office busted two cockfighting rings and arrested 21 people for the crime of cockfighting. San Joaquin County sheriff's Deputy Terri Holley is the department's resident expert on the county's cockfighting underworld. Holley can identify the tiny blades cockfighters affix to the spurs of their birds: slashers and gaffs in the parlance of fighters. She knows that the small leather balls used to cover spurs in practice bouts are called muffs. If she stumbles on a suspicious-looking chicken coop, she knows to keep her eyes peeled for empty syringes and steroid bottles, clear signs the birds are being bulked up for a brawl. Finally, fighting-cock breeding operations are often raising and training hundreds of birds at a time, vs. the dozen at the Tracy site. But actually breaking up a cockfight requires police work, Holley said. "Usually it's on a ranch somewhere down long country roads so they can have warning when the cops show up." Ron Cotta, the director of San Joaquin County's Animal Control Department, said his department is rarely called upon to rescue fighting cocks. "A wounded or injured animal is usually a loser, and it is probably dead by the time we get there," Cotta said. Cotta said he is leery of people who raise roosters for show: "It is not illegal to raise the animals. They bring them as show birds, but we know better, it's usually a one-time show." The Tracy rooster breeder adamantly denied his birds are used for fighting. "You breed them to make something beautiful," he said of his hobby. On a recent weekday morning on his Tracy farm, the roosters crow in their cages. Hens run free and peck at the dirt. They are joined by young males who have not yet undergone the change that will alter them into fiercely territorial creatures. The rooster breeder said that transformation begins about eight months after hatching. "He'll start chasing hens, crowing, strutting his stuff," the breeder said. He will also begin to fight other roosters. The breeder said the frolicking young roosters will soon start to jockey for power in the farm yard. Without the encouragement of gamblers and cockfighting enthusiasts, they will try to topple the alpha cocks. "If he can do it, why not?" the breeder said. "But if he can't, the old man stays." * To reach reporter Alex Gronke, phone (209) 833-1142 or e-mail agronke@recordnet.com Source http://www.recordnet.com/daily/news/articles/012104-gn-7.php |