Birds Rescued From Fowl Play

Six animal-control officers spent the better part of Thursday morning counting their chickens.

And counting.

And counting.

By the time they finished their fowl census behind the Pacoima home where sheriff’s deputies allegedly found a methamphetamine lab and a cockfighting operation this week, the tally stood at 485 roosters, hens and baby chicks.

The noisy birds were kept in stacked cages and wire pens that covered almost every inch of the dusty, cluttered yard in the 12000 block of Osborne Place. Most of the birds had no food, water or shade. Some of the cages were nailed shut and contained carcasses of dead birds among the live ones.

Although cockfighting is illegal in California, owning the specially bred cocks themselves is not against the law as long as they are kept 100 feet away from the adjoining property and are well cared for, said Peter Persic, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Department of Animal Regulation. As a result, investigators must still determine whether there is enough evidence to justify charges of animal cruelty or zoning violation against the owners, Persic said.

In the meantime, authorities fed and watered the birds Thursday before impounding them on grounds of abandonment. One suspect arrested in Wednesday’s drug raid claimed to be their owner, but, Persic said, “we want to make sure if he says they are his birds, they really are.”

The chickens will remain at the house for at least the next 10 days and be cared for there by animal-control officers. After that, their fate is unclear.

The department cannot put the cocks up for adoption because the department has no way of making sure that the new owners won’t return them to the cockfighting arena, Persic said.