Participants could face federal charges

BOISE -- Gooding County Sheriff's deputies have busted up a cockfighting ring during a raid Sunday night.

Officers issued 16 citations for illegal cockfighting and seized 20 fighting roosters. The Idaho Humane Society is now caring for the birds.

Additionally, fighting paraphernalia including razor sharp stainless steel leg gaffs and spurs and gambling equipment were discovered at the scene.

The Sheriff's Department is cooperating with agents with the U.S. Department of Agriculture on this case.

According to police reports, an anonymous caller alerted sheriff's deputies that a cockfighting tournament was in progress at a dairy farm near Wendell. Around 60 people were involved and fled when three deputies arrived around 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

Nine individuals were taken into custody and 20 vehicles were impounded, many of which were abandoned by the fleeing individuals, including some with California license plates.

Authorities say several of the birds were found with documents indicating that they had been flown into Idaho from California for the event. The owner of the dairy was out of the state at the time of the cockfight.  

Idaho Humane Society Executive Director Jeff Rosenthal says the pos sibility that birds were transported into Idaho for cockfighting is significant, because this could be a federal offense. Cockfighting in Idaho is a misdemeanor with penalties as low as $100 per offense. At the federal level, each violation may bring up to five years in jail and up to a $250,000 fine for perpetrators. 

"Cockfighting is almost always associated with other criminal enterprises such as gambling and drug dealing. The transport of the birds carries both human disease risks and disease risks to the poultry industry. Additionally these matches involve terrible cruelty and abuse inflicted upon the animals,” said Dr. Rosenthal.

He says one of the birds died from its injuries, while the rest will be euthanized later this week.

Previous efforts by the Idaho Humane Society and other animal welfare organizations to make cockfighting a felony offense in Idaho have failed to win support from the state Legislature.