From Deseret News archives:
19 arrested at cockfight
25 roosters likely will be killed after they were seized in Lindon
"Normally, (the roosters) end up being euthanized in these situations," said John Paul Fox, chief investigator for the Humane Society of Utah. In most cases, he said, such birds cannot be rehabilitated.
"You're not going to turn them into anything but a high-testosterone, stringy bird," he said.
Pleasant Grove police officers, who acted on a tip from an informant, found five dead roosters and made 19 arrests at the cockfighting tournament, which was being held in a barn. The crowd scattered at the arrival of the officers, Cullimore said.
Those arrested were given cruelty-to-animals citations, a class B misdemeanor that is punishable by up to six months in jail and a $2,500 fine. All 19 were released from police custody after being cited.
Police also found a number of children between the ages of 8 and 10 at the site.
Gambling, weapons and narcotics are often linked to cockfights, according to the Human Society of the United States, but Cullimore said there was no evidence that weapons or drugs were present at the Lindon event.
He said police believe spectators were gambling but were unable to find money and the betting records when they scoured the site during the raid.
"If we're able to prove the gambling, then we have a felony, but that's going to be tough to do because we have no documentation now," Cullimore said. "But we're still looking into all aspects of everything we can."
Inside the barn, Cullimore said there was a 10-foot arena constructed of wood and a sawdust floor, with wiring hung over it to keep the roosters in.
Officers seized the equipment of five trainers, including scythe-shaped blades called gaffs that are tied onto the roosters' feet for the fights. The implements are designed to puncture and mutilate.
Roosters are naturally territorial, Fox said, but the training, drugs and weapons they are given alter that natural tendency and make it deadly.
Involvement in cockfights is often the result of family tradition, Fox said.
"A lot of it is multigenerational," he said. "People say, 'My grandfather did it, my father did it, so I'm going to do it.' "
Sunday's tournament was allegedly organized by a man who lives at the home where the barn is located. He was already in police custody, having been arrested Saturday night for unrelated warrants.
