East Baton Rouge, LA (WVLA) – When animal control and east baton rouge deputies arrived at this house – on samuels road in zachary. they were surprised there wasn’t a lookout on site. They received an anonymous tip – saying there was cock-fighting going on here and couldn’t believe their eyes when they walked around to the back yard.
“They walked to the back of the house and which point they saw a cock fight in progress. subjects fled into the back of the woods, a certain number of them carrying gamecocks and paraphernalia,” said Hilton Cole, executive director of the parish Animal Control and Rescue Center.
What they encountered next was a gruesome scene. Police officers picked up 77 fighting roosters, four of them were dead and they found boxes of blades that get clipped on the roosters during a fight.
“The perpetrators inject them with chemicals, sometimes steroids to hype them up. and then they tease them, they hype them up, they knock their heads together, their beaks together and they get them all fired up,” said Cole.
EBR sheriff’s deputies arrested Tien Dang and Bao Dang both are facing misdemeanor cock-fighting charges.
investigators also handed out – 20 summons to appear in court to people who’re accused of participating and watching what was going on neighbors say they knew the people who lived here – had a lot of animals. But they had no idea it was this bad.
“They are quiet, I never really see them outside. Sometimes when I come home, I see little chickens outside like right over there but that was it. I just thought the had a farm,” said a neighbor.
Now an animal control officer told me he drives past this house on Samuels road everyday on his way to work and generally it is a pretty quiet neighborhood, but after receiving that anonymous tip, he and his fellow officers found out the stuff going on at this house has never been seen before here in East Baton Rouge.
“This is by far the biggest cockfighting ring or incident we’ve ever come up against in east baton rouge parish,” said Cole.
All of the combative roosters will have to be euthanized but animal control hopes to still be able to save some of them.
“The bantam chicks are also being kept. we envision adopting them out to good homes, it’s just a matter of holding them right now as evidence pending their final disposition but we plan on saving the non-combative gamecocks,” said Cole.
By Jason Dumas
