How many roosters does it take to run a premier, cock-fighting headquarters? Would you believe 2,000 or so?
West Valley Animal Control Officer Glen Julian reported to me that he was involved in the raid of one of the biggest cockfighting establishments in the U.S. Evidently the Sylmar business had been under helicopter surveillance for months. It was so well-established that it shipped its roosters to the Phillipines, where the sport is especially brutal. There, they attach four-inch-long razor-sharp blades to the roosters' legs. The fight ends with one rooster dead and the other maimed for life. (Cockfighting is legal in Mexico and the Phillipines, but it's against the law in all 50 states, Brazil and most of Europe.)
Not that cockfighting isn't enough to shut the place down, but establishments such as these are big gambling centers where large sums of money pass hands, and where drugs are often sold. Where there are drugs and money, there are guns too.
I asked Glen what had happened to the 2,000 roosters, and he said that they all had to be euthanized. "Where are we going to find homes for 2,000 roosters? he asked me. "Besides, they they're full of steroids to make them aggressive." I've read that they're also given ephedrine, a component of methamphetamine.
The photo below, published by United Poultry Concerns, is of dead roosters after a cockfight. Don'tcha just love the empty Bud Light carton thrown in for a little color?
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