Cockfighting In Canyon County

The Canyon County Sheriff's Office has been receiving a lot of calls lately about 'Cockfighting'.  The Webster Dictionary definition of cockfighting is "A contest in which gamecocks usually fitted with metal spurs are pitted against each other."  These battles are almost always to the death and YES, it's very illegal.

With so many calls coming in authorities started investigating and that investigation has led to 23-year-old Carlos Angel who's just been charged with ten misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty.  KTVB reports that investigators are saying Carlos has been training and mutilating roosters, preparing them for the cockfights.

Why the mutilation you ask?  Here's what PETA explains about the preparation these roosters go through before fighting to the death...

Before they are thrown into the ring, many birds have their feathers plucked out and their wattles and/or combs (the flesh at the top of the head and under the beak) hacked off, usually with shears. These mutilations are performed as preemptive measures so that to the birds they will be less vulnerable in the fighting ring

Carlos had 10 roosters he was doing this to when investigators caught him.  He WAS booked but only had a $2,000 bail so he's back out on the streets.  Here's his mugshot.

What happens to these roosters at this point, I don't know.  My guess is that they're too far gone and most likely will have to be put down.  As for Carlos... he has a court appearance set for June 6th.  Animal Cruelty crimes aren't penalized too harshly.  If convicted, at most, he'll get a six-month sentence and it's very likely he'll get much less than that and probably won't serve any jail time at all.

Authorities are doing their best to stop Cockfighting here in Canyon County before it really gets going so if you know, see, or hear anything about these illegal activities, please call 208-455-6090 immediately.