Gamefowl seized

[windwalkingwolf]

I should not read any news of any sort at bullpoop 0'clock in the morning. It makes me want to
https://joeforamerica.com/2018/01/aspca ... bird-case/

[Killerbunny]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-new- ... SKBN1AC33L
here is a bit more info on what they found that led to charges.

[Skinny rooster]

So... according to the second article he was not so innocent? I think it's probably time to change the practice of cutting off the comb and wattles like people stopped cropping dogs ears. An OEG rooster looks beautiful naturally, I don't like the look of them sliced up. The other side to this is so many of the SCPA workers are such radicals that I wouldn't be surprised if one of them planted the evidence. It's convenient when they pull off a raid like this to get themselves free publicity but look what happened here in Ottawa! People were frantically trying to get the SCPA to intervene and save two pups abandoned in a townhouse, meh... they couldn't be bothered until all the local news outlets harassed them and showed clips of the crying dogs.

[kenya]

Well when you see some of these poor rooster with frozen combs and waddles I can see the benefits of removing them , much like removing due claws on a dog they end up getting ripped and half tore off anyway and just cause a lot of pain.

[Happy]

My guess is that if the sop changed and dubbing was banned you would see a lot of breeders of the oeg and oegb in our climate switch to a different breed because it would be so difficult to keep them in show shape. My personal opinion on Combs is that's what makes a rooster.
My 3 oegb's just got moved into the basement. No frostbite but Sherman was shivering badly so enough is enough. There's a short warm spell coming where they can get moved back outside. They think they're at the Ritz. Laying on a fleece blanket and nibbling boss and leftover corn.

[ross]

Always more to the story
Kinda like pit bulls of
Poultry world . Rock on

[windwalkingwolf]

So... according to the second article he was not so innocent? I think it's probably time to change the practice of cutting off the comb and wattles like people stopped cropping dogs ears. An OEG rooster looks beautiful naturally, I don't like the look of them sliced up. The other side to this is so many of the SCPA workers are such radicals that I wouldn't be surprised if one of them planted the evidence. It's convenient when they pull off a raid like this to get themselves free publicity but look what happened here in Ottawa! People were frantically trying to get the SCPA to intervene and save two pups abandoned in a townhouse, meh... they couldn't be bothered until all the local news outlets harassed them and showed clips of the crying dogs.

From the indictment:
"Roosters involved in cockfighting will often be mutilated in preparation for fights, typically by cutting off the rooster’s comb and wattle and shaping the rooster’s spur."

(Whether or not the practice of dubbing is "mutilation", the U.S. Department of Justice apparently thinks it is. Not great for anyone who exhibits Games in the States, as dubbingof cocks is required for A.P.A./A.B.A. shows. It's not much of a stretch to imagine poultry shows raided, property seized, cruelty charges laid)

"From January 2012 up June 2017, THOMAS CARRANO, a member and former leader of the New York chapter of the United Gamefowl Breeders Association (“NYUGBA”), conspired with others—including a co-conspirator in the Bronx, New York—to buy, sell, transport, and receive roosters for cockfighting. CARRANO used two social media accounts—one in his own name, and one in the NYUGBA’s name —to communicate with co-conspirators, including members of the NYUGBA and others that were located in the Southern District of New York. In a 2014 newsletter to its members, the NYUGBA stated that “We DO NOT promote cockfighting in any way.” Yet in messages sent through these social media accounts, CARRANO discussed breeding and training roosters for cockfighting, the sale and purchase of gaffs and postizas for cockfighting, and CARRANO’s personal participation in cockfighting.

On May 23, 2017, law enforcement personnel executed a search warrant at CARRANO’s gamefowl farm in Ontario, New York. During the search, law enforcement officers discovered, among other things, gaffs, postizas, shears for dubbing roosters, a rooster sparring dummy, a specialized ladder used to train fighting roosters, steroids, and videos of roosters being trained for cockfights. In addition, law enforcement officers recovered approximately 104 chickens, including 19 adult roosters and 12 adolescent roosters. More than three-quarters of the male birds had their comb, wattles, and/or earlobes removed. In addition, more than a third of the roosters had at least one of their natural spurs altered.

(It fails to define "altered"; I have a couple roosters with "altered" spurs--one of them stabs himself in the butt and the other one trips on his if I don't "alter" them...could I be charged with conspiracy to train birds for fighting? Or cruelty for my mutilation? Could my roosters that have points missing due to frostbite result in having my birds all seized, and no way to get them back until and unless I can definitely prove that I did NOT cut their combs, or possibly prohibited from owning birds at all for allowing, through action or inaction, such mutilation?)

CARRANO, 44, of Ontario, New York, is charged with one count of conspiring to sell, possess, and transport animals for purposes of participating in an animal fight, which carries a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison. The maximum potential sentence in this case is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.

Mr. Kim praised the outstanding investigative work of the USDA-OIG and NYPD’s Animal Cruelty Investigations Squad, and thanked them for their ongoing support and assistance with the case. Mr. Kim also thanked the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for their assistance in this case.

The prosecution of this case is being overseen by the Office’s General Crimes Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alison G. Moe and Michael C. McGinnis are in charge of the case.

The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty."

Whether he's innocent or not should be for a judge to decide, but it seems anymore that the groups that throw money at sensationalistic ad campaigns, biased news reports, and the court of popular opinion, are the ones that decide.
Personally, I think the dubbing of cockerel chicks is archaic, medieval. I think it belongs only in history books as does cockfighting. I think people who engage in cockfights should be castrated, and while still bleeding, thrown into a pen of fighting birds. At the same time, I understand the exhibitors that want a visual nod to the history of game breeds, rather than relegating it to dusty books on a forgotten shelf.

[Killerbunny]

One of the Keepers at the Game Conservancy in the UK did not have his working spaniel bitch docked when a pup. She was got into a bramble patch and the resulting injuries were very nasty and the resultant bill to have her tail removed, large.
Poor Chunky is missing a spur after getting into a fight with a turkey hen and ripping it off, yikes!
A friends sister is involved with a certain group in Ontario and she wants to visit and "see" the birds but I have refused to allow her on the property. I even refused to have her to dinner as part of the family group. SOme people are just extreme whatever they are involved in.

[baronrenfrew]

FYI: the majority of "terrorists" watched by the FBI are the leaders of environmental groups and animal rights groups. People who set things on fire to make statements used to be charged with arson, now its domestic terrorism (not that I approve of arson).

[Killerbunny]

ALF blew up the vets car when I worked at a "certain place" in the UK. It was public health and animals were used in testing.