A Thurston County resident has been convicted on charges of animal cruelty and involvement in cockfighting following an investigation and rescue operation conducted a year ago.
According to the Joint Animal Services (JAS) post, they received a tip on August 8 of last year about potential cockfighting activity in Thurston County, an unincorporated area for such activity.
Four days later, JAS officers, accompanied by Deputy Burton-Crow from the Thurston County Sheriff's Office (TCSO), visited the location and found over 60 chickens on the property, including 40 roosters tethered to small enclosures.
“Persons involved in cockfighting will often cut or ‘dub’ the combs, ears, and waddles of trained roosters to prevent a significant bleed and allow the fight to last longer. The rooster's spur will often be cut and dulled to allow for gaff attachments, or the natural spur may be sharpened if the fighters opt not to use attachments,” JAS reported on their post.
On August 19, a search warrant was executed, leading to the seizure of all 63 chickens that JAS had taken in and cared for while awaiting further legal action.
Exactly one year later, the suspect responsible pleaded guilty to charges of animal fighting and animal cruelty. The court sentenced the individual to a 42-day home probation and ordered them to pay $10,000 in restitution. JAS is grateful to Rooster Haus Rescue for taking in the rescued roosters, stating, “Thanks to our partnership with Rooster Haus Rescue, a non-profit dedicated to rescuing, rehabilitating, and providing permanent sanctuary to neglected and abused farmed animals, we could ensure positive outcomes for these birds despite their original circumstances.”
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FirstOtter
This person may be the same one who routinely stops at homes with "fresh farm eggs" signs posted.
He'll ask if you have any roosters you want to get rid of. Most people don't want a rooster, not because they're noisy, (they are), but because the owners are in the business of selling eggs, not raising more chickens.
The man is dodgy. He is 'doing you a favor' by taking those worthless roosters off your hands'. He doesn't want to buy them, just take them.
If you ask him what he plans to do with them, that's when he gets evasive. Oh, my kids want a pet. My mother loves roosters. I want to raise chickens.
Well, anyone who's ever kept chickens knows that in any batch of chicks, you're GOING to get a couple roosters. YOu don't need to go hunting for them. Even if you want to keep from a clutch inbreeding, (roosters will **** anything) all you need to do is talk to another egg producer for a rooster chick.
This guy-actually, there's a lot of them out there now, wants the rooster for fighting.
Cockfighting is a bloody, horrible ''''sport'''. It's horrible. IT's run by men who gamble on their birds.
In the wild, or in an open area, two roosters will face off to fight for a flock. They have their natural spurs which are quite sharp. The fights are usually fairly short. It doesn't take too many attacks before one rooster surrenders, to to speak. He can run away and the winning rooster lets him go.
But in cockfighting, a rooster is armed with steel spikes, sometimes razor edged. They're put into a tiny, high walled pen, surrounded by a bunch of yelling humans who are betting on the fight. The roosters attack each other. They have no way to escape, they have no way to surrender, they must fight until either the owner of the loser intervenes or the loser collapses from it's wounds. Even then, the winning rooster will keep attacking...he can't help not to, the fight is solely driven by hormonal rage. Even if the owner manages to get his rooster out, the winner will attack HIM, and the loser dies of his wounds later.
(If you think cockfighting is bad, wait until you see what some of these people do with pitbulls. Dogfighting is hideously horrible and cruel. When I lived in Texas, the local animal shelter in El Paso was a 'no kill' facility. I visited it once and saw they had at least 80 pitbulls. (there were a few non pitbulls but not many). Some of them were so dangerous there was a sign on the gate that stated so, and the dog would be roaring at you. I asked the manager of the facility, do you put down a dog that goes without being adopted? She said, no, we're a no kill facility. "So they're here for their life? Years?" "Well, that depends on how you determine life." .
She looked so sad.
" How long do I have the average pitbull? A week? Sometimes two weeks. Max." she said.
I was gobsmacked.
She said, "Immigrants, you know. They come in and adopt them as fast as they come in. It's always men, too, adopting them. The families with kids, they want anything BUT a pitbull."
She looked at me with a sad expression. I said, 'they're fighting them, aren't they." She said, yes, and there's nothing I can do to prevent it."
So what you do with the guy who stops at your fresh eggs stand and wants a rooster for free?
My grandmother knows. She had a flock that kept her in eggs and she had a sign outside by the road that said Farm fresh eggs for sale.
My grandmother might be old but she's no dummy. She knows a criminal when she sees one.
She said to the man who wanted a free rooster, "Sure. Did you bring a cooler?"
Did I bring a cooler?
"Yes, with ice. Do you need some ice?"
"Why should I need ice?"
"To cool the carcass as quickly as possible. We'll kill it right now, you know how to clean a bird, right? You want to cool it as fast as possible."
"No, no, not to kill, no alive. Must be alive," he said.
"No you don't, mister. You want if for cockfighting, don't you. I might look old and stupid but I'm not. You get out of here and don't come back. We have your license plate and we're calling the sheriff. Right now."
He left and hasn't been back. I sure hope this is the guy the cops busted. But there's more of them out there.
Friday, August 16, 2024 Report this
Boatyarddog
I was Gobsmacked to Uttered the Word Immigrant!
Could'nt help yourself, right?
Who's gonna check your facts?
I think your VERY long Story would'nt hold air, let alone facts.
Horsehocky that's what your story reads like.
Smf!
Friday, August 16, 2024 Report this
JudithB
I don’t support or defend cockfighting. I lived in south east Asia and there it is a form of gambling/entertainment as described below. It is legal in many parts of Latin America, in the Philippines, Indonesia and other countries.
Friday, August 16, 2024 Report this