The roosters squawked loudly and flapped their wings violently as they were carried upside down to waiting pet carriers. The birds were seized as authorities investigated what they say may have been a cockfighter breeding operation in Salt Lake City.
Animal control and police officers descended on a makeshift chicken coop near a set of train tracks Friday afternoon, seizing 40 roosters and chickens.
On Thursday, Salt Lake City firefighters responding to a train-sparked grass fire near 300 South and Redwood Road spotted a man feeding roosters in a small structure nearby. When the firefighters tried to approach him, he ran off.
"We got an anonymous call from a pay phone," said Temma Martin with Salt Lake County Animal Services. "He said the owner of the birds lives in Wyoming and isn't coming back so we might as well pick them up."
The property owner didn't know there were chickens there, she said.
Salt Lake County Animal Services said it is possible the birds were being bred for cockfighting, although there was no other evidence of the blood sport. Neighbors of the chicken coop described a man who would come and feed the birds like clockwork.
"I just seen him come feed them all the time," said Scott Taylor. "I never did see him fight them. I asked him and he said he was just going to raise and sell them."
The Humane Society of Utah believes cockfighting goes on almost every weekend in the state.
"It gives some people an outlet for gambling," said John Paul Fox, chief investigator for the animal welfare group. "Sometimes there's drugs used in the place of betting. It's quite common."
Nine men involved in a cockfight busted in Ogden have pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges.
One by one, at court appearances in 2nd District Court in Ogden throughout the week, the men pleaded guilty to class B misdemeanor charges of cruelty to animals and watching animals fight, said Ogden city chief prosecutor Michael Junk.
"There were those that were starting it," he said Friday, "and those participating who were present as a spectator."
Two men were accused of running the cockfighting ring. One was sentenced to 60 days in jail, the other was given a $1,000 fine, Junk said. The seven observers were ordered to pay $350 fines.
Police responded to an anonymous tip in the 200 block of Patterson Street on April 8 and found cars parked outside a home. A man walking out of the back yard saw the police and turned around, yelling something in Spanish to the others.
"Then everyone started walking quickly toward the back of the property," Lt. Scott Sangberg said earlier this week.
Behind a 6-foot-tall fence, police said they found evidence of a cockfight in progress. Fresh blood was on the ground and a rooster was already dead from a recent fight. One man was arrested with $5,000 cash on him, police said.
Sangberg said one of the men arrested told officers they were "just drinking beer and watching the chickens fight." Animal control officers seized nearly 100 chickens. Police officers also seized vitamins, syringes and leg razors that are strapped to the roosters' legs for the fights.
E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com