Local News in Brief : 29 Fighting Cocks Stolen

While the only officer on duty was in the kennel feeding a pack of barking dogs, 29 fighting cocks were stolen from the East Valley Animal Shelter, authorities reported Monday.

Los Angeles police said they had no clues as to who cut a hole in the North Hollywood shelter’s chain-link fence and then helped themselves to the birds stored in cages beneath a covering in the yard.

The thefts set into motion the transfer of the shelter’s 60 remaining roosters to the West Valley Animal Shelter, where about 250 others were already in custody. There, the birds, stockpiled in recent months following police raids on cockfights, were being stored in their individual cages wherever space could be found--including parking slots normally reserved for animal collection trucks, a trash can storage bay and on the side of the shelter in Chatsworth.

“A good fighting bird might be worth $300 or $400 or $500 to the people that are involved in fighting,” East Valley Animal Control Officer Bob Pena said.