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From the Albuquerque Journal
April 6, 2009
The Associated Press
LAS CRUCES — Authorities raided seven properties suspected of being cockfighting sites in Doña Ana County on Saturday, seizing about 500 birds and charging four men.
Ramon Torres, 46, Ernesto Torres, 46, Armando Rosales, 44, and Guillermo Torres, age unknown, all of Berino, were each charged with a petty misdemeanor. It was not known if the suspects are related.
Doña Ana County Animal Control supervisor Curtis Childress said that felony charges were pending and that he expected further arrests following the raids.
Childress said the birds found at the properties were all used for cockfighting.
Most of the animals were in good shape, but some had had their combs and spurs removed for fighting, he said.
Some of the birds were used for breeding and were being sold across the state and in Mexico, Childress said.
“We’ve effectively shut them down, because we’ve taken all their stock,” he said.
Agents conducting the raid said that, despite the yearlong ban on cockfighting in New Mexico, profits from cockfighting remain a factor in its persistence.
Childress expected the birds, which had been pumped with steroids, vitamins and painkillers, to be euthanized.
John Goodwin, manager of animal fighting issues with the Humane Society of the United States, helped with the raid.
“The goal is to let cockfighters know New Mexico will not ever be a safe haven for this crime,” Goodwin said, adding “cockfighting has no socially redeemable value.”
Posted with permission from the Albuquerque Publishing Company.
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