Posted on September 8, 2014

Cockfighting Crimes Increasing in San Bernardino County, Video Warns

James Barragan, Los Angeles Times, September 5, 2014

Weeks after a Fontana man was arrested for allegedly keeping more than 500 roosters for cockfighting, San Bernardino County officials released a video to combat the crime, calling it an “increasing problem.”

The four-minute video follows the raid of a Fontana home and shows images of roosters tied to tethers in small, enclosed pens that fill the backyard of a residential home, as well as gaffs and mitts used for training in cockfighting. It also shows what appears to be a dead chicken.

Officials with the district attorney’s office say they have seen an increase in cockfighting crimes over the last several years.

In April 2012, sheriff’s deputies raided a cockfighting event in Hesperia and found 63 live roosters, 14 dead ones and more than $20,000 in cash. Sixty-eight arrests were made that day.

Later that year, Ontario police and the Inland Valley Humane Society found 1,000 gamecocks at a suspected cockfighting ring in the city.

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