Article author:
Associated Press
RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA (AP) — Authorities canceled a large cockfighting event over the weekend and were forced to euthanize about 150 roosters found in a Southern California home, animal control officials said. a sheriff official said.
Late Friday, sheriffs found about 200 people at a Julpa Valley city residence, with "evidence of an illegal cockfighting event and multiple dead or seriously injured birds," Riverside said. The county sheriff's department issued a statement.
An additional 143 birds were found in cages on the property about 50 miles (80 km) east of Los Angeles, according to a statement.
According to the agency's statement, county animal services officials collected all the live roosters and "humanely euthanized them. This process continued until about 6:00 am."
``Birds must be euthanized because they are valuable and most of the time they end up back in the cockfighting ring, so animal services cannot take them back. Because they can't, they are not suitable as pets," the statement added.
An unidentified man who told authorities he owned a bird turned himself in for a cockfighting knife used in cockfights. Investigation is ongoing.
