Riverside Cockfighting Bust: 30 Cited In Raid Near Salton Sea, Dozens Of Roosters Euthanized

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Authorities in Southern California's Riverside County say 30 people have been cited and more than three dozen roosters euthanized after a raid on an illegal cockfighting ring near the Salton Sea.

The county Department of Animal Services said in a news release that sheriff's deputies and animal control officers stormed the ring in the North Shore area Sunday.

The agency says deputies stationed on off-road vehicles intercepted people as they attempted to flee into the surrounding desert.

Three roosters were already bloody from early-morning fighting. The department says 37 birds were seized and euthanized.

Deputy Director Frank Corvino says Animal Services doesn't put the roosters up for adoption because they would end up back in cockfighting operations.

Comments

[admrob]

01:48 PM on 04/13/2010

waits for "but its our latino culture" just like horse tripping. Disgusting.

[topkatnc]

10:11 AM on 04/13/2010

I have no use for people who use animals for fighting...Some neighbors up the road raised chickens for years...and I always thought they were in to chicken fighting ...but never could prove it....well when the laws changed around here they up and moved...thank god....but they didn't take their chickens with them....so the little critters came to my house....so now I have alot of chickens...but I love them just the same....the penalty for these crimes against animals should be more harsh...alot more....

[Canyon Cruz]

11:48 PM on 04/12/2010

wait a minute, why not just let them fight, at least half of them would live, what is the use if you are just going to turn around and euthanize them. Rooster will kill each other anyways, that what they do normally...I agree, the people should be arrested, but then kill all the birds? WTF?

[Renshai]

05:23 PM on 04/16/2010

Probably for the same reason we don't turn death row into a giant pit fight of hard core criminals. I mean those people are all scheduled to die too!

[zeeke]

03:43 PM on 04/12/2010

cockfighting, dogfighting...jail all these sadistic a-holes and throw away the key

[LeeCalif]

06:44 PM on 04/12/2010

Many military sick-os.

[RobinSeattle]

03:42 PM on 04/12/2010

Cockfighting in Riverside County? Like that's a surprise since it's basically Alabama without the humidity in summer.

[suec03]

05:17 PM on 04/12/2010

This happened in the southeastern Riverside County desert area around the Salton Sea, bordering Imperial County, far from the county seat of Riverside at the northwestern edge of the county. I wouldn't describe the Salton Sea area as Alabama.

[TheAntiNixon]

11:20 AM on 04/13/2010

Yeah, bad comparison. Riverside County is basically an Antonym for "Alabama." And the area around Salton Sea is even more so. I don't think RobinSeattle has ever been in the area. His/her statement falls even more flat because it is always humid around the Salton Sea (due to the sea's evaporation and a lot of agriculture).

[topkatnc]

10:05 AM on 04/13/2010

It doesn't just happen in the south....it happens all over our country as dog fights do too...

[blueskybigstar]

02:56 PM on 04/12/2010

They killed all the birds? That is much less humane than the fighting.

[LeeCalif]

06:44 PM on 04/12/2010

You are foolish and totally naive.

[TheAntiNixon]

11:55 AM on 04/12/2010

Stupid. Why is watching chickens fight so entertaining to Mexicanos and Blacks? Maybe Asians are into it too, idk.. stupid tho.

[rabb046]

01:16 PM on 04/12/2010

You left White people out of your racist rant.

[TheAntiNixon]

03:11 PM on 04/12/2010

I don't know of too many white folks who are into cockfighting. And I'm not white, just as a minority I see a lot of other minorities who are into it. Don't jump to conclusions.

[topkatnc]

10:22 AM on 04/13/2010

I don't think what you said was racist...you only said what you have observed...

[TheAntiNixon]

11:08 AM on 04/13/2010

exactly. some people just have a hair trigger when it comes to wagging their finger and calling someone racist. lame.