County Proposal Targets Cockfighting

Determined to crack down on the blood sport of cockfighting, Ventura County officials are considering an ordinance that for the first time would limit farmers to one rooster for every 15 hens.

Police and code enforcement officers have complained of several instances where dozens and, in some cases, hundreds of cocks have been found on a single property.

“A rooster’s primary purpose is to procreate,” Sheriff’s Sgt. Larry Baugher wrote in a recent memo. “They are not raised for their meat, as are hens or fryers. I cannot think of any other reason other than for fighting purposes that a person would need hundreds of roosters.”

Baugher added that “there are several locations in our county where cockfighting is occurring on a weekly basis.”

The Humane Society of Ventura County has received dozens of calls in the last year regarding gamecock operations, ranging from actual bird fighting to improper housing, unsanitary conditions and noise.

“It’s a major headache because this is an agricultural county,” said Jeff Hoffman, senior officer of the Humane Society. “I’ve been here 14 years, and it seems like it’s getting worse.”

Some property owners readily admit that they are raising roosters for fighting purposes.

“They actually tell us, ‘Yeah, they’re fighting cocks, but we take them to Arizona and fight them there where it’s legal,’ ” Hoffman said. “That’s a common excuse.”

Hoffman and law enforcement officials said gamecock operations have been found in outlying areas of Simi Valley, Moorpark, Fillmore, Somis, El Rio and Oxnard. The largest have been found in Santa Paula.

One particularly large farm near Santa Paula that houses as many as 1,000 cocks was cited in 1994 for building code violations because the county had no other way to clamp down on activities there, officials said.

In a separate case in nearby Fillmore, sheriff’s deputies responded to what they suspected was a cockfight in progress at a bird farm on the evening of Aug. 11. Deputies were attracted to the farm after spotting dozens of parked cars and billowing smoke from a trash can.

*

A search of the property turned up a cockfighting ring, several “live bloody cocks” in holding pens and remnants of previous bird fights, including scattered feathers and bird skin, according to the deputies’ report. Burned carcasses were discovered in a still smoking, 55-gallon drum.

Between 80 and 100 people were in attendance, including two women and more than a dozen children, said Sheriff’s Deputy Jerry Peterson. Half of the crowd fled after the deputies arrived, he said.

Without having actually seen any fighting and because there were no razors or large sums of cash found, police were unable to make any arrests. The property owner denied any cockfighting activities.

“He said he raises them for show,” Peterson said. The owner was subsequently cited for building and safety violations.

The two cases underscore the frustration of county code enforcement officer Gloria Goldman, who is primarily responsible for pushing the new rooster ordinance.

Although she has never seen a cockfight, Goldman has inspected several properties after a fight has taken place. She said she has found everything from burned carcasses to fighting implements such as razor-sharp spurs attached to a bird’s legs, and syringes, which are used to inject cocks with steroids and other drugs.

“I never thought I would become a rooster advocate,” Goldman said, “but this is pretty sickening.”

The Board of Supervisors will consider today approving an ordinance that would limit to four the number of cocks that can be kept on farms and other properties. More than four roosters would be allowed only at the ratio of one rooster for every 15 hens.

Since the ordinance was first proposed last month, her office has received no outpouring of complaints or opposition from chicken and egg farmers and doesn’t expect any, Goldman said.

“Most legitimate farmers will destroy roosters before they become adults because they are so combative,” she said. “They are undesirable because all they do is fight.”

The ordinance contains a provision that would allow owners who raise cocks for show or some other special circumstances to apply for a conditional-use permit. The permit would take into account things like odors, noise and sanitary conditions.

“Most people out there are not raising cocks for show, they are raising them to fight,” Goldman said. “We’re just trying to make it as hard for these people to operate as possible.”

The only problem Goldman said she had with the new ordinance was that it allows property owners three years to comply with the new law. This was largely due to zoning laws, which allow for extended grace periods on property matters.

“I don’t like it, but there’s nothing we can do about it,” Goldman said.

*

Meanwhile, Mike Mobley, president of the Ventura County Farm Bureau, which represents more than 1,000 farmers in the county, said he has not received any complaints from his membership about the proposed ordinance.

“We have no problem with it as far as the limitations being proposed,” he said. “I think when you get over 25, 30 or more [roosters], there’s something going on there, illegally.”

County Counsel Jim Thonis said he does not anticipate any problems or challenges to the law.

“Most communities’ ordinances have limitations on animals in various zones, just like limitations on cats and dogs” in residential areas, he said. “Those limitations are based on noise and other factors. I don’t see this as any different. The fact that it may help the sheriff resolve other problems is incidental.”

Todd Collart, an official in the county Planning Department, said that the ordinance is not modeled after any particular law. He said every county regulates the keeping of various types of animals in different ways.