Fifty charged and 5,000 birds seized in San Diego cockfighting investigation
SAN DIEGO -- Fifty people have been criminally charged and more than 5,000 birds seized after a six-month investigation into a cockfighting operation near the Mexican border, authorities said Monday.
More arrests are expected, they said, as the investigation continues into an operation that sold fighting birds to devotees of the blood sport in mainland United States, Hawaii and the Philippines, where cockfighting is legal.
Eleven search warrants were served and a seven-acre compound in the Nestor area of San Diego was raided Saturday. Charges include cockfighting and possession of cockfighting implements, which are misdemeanors. Defendants found with prior cockfighting convictions could face felony charges.
Birds were hatched at the Nestor site, taught to fight, and then shipped out or immediately pitted against other birds, authorities said. “This is what we call a birth-to-death operation,” DeSousa said.
The Nestor site was raided six years ago and more than 2,500 birds were confiscated. Hundreds of birds were confiscated in similar raids in northern San Diego County last spring. The district attorney’s office has filed 53 cockfighting cases in six years.
The birds seized in the weekend raid have been euthanized.
“This bust represents a major setback to the cockfighting industry,” said Eric Sakach, an investigator for the Humane Society of the United States.
Along with the birds, authorities from a variety of local and federal agencies seized cockfighting paraphernalia, smart phones, DVDs and computers.
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