BY: ABQ RAW Staff
POSTED: 6/11/2023 @ 8:10PM
An officer can be seen rescuing a cock after a ring was discovered today
SE Albuquerque –
Today around 1PM, the Albuquerque Police Department responded to 530 Utah St. SE in reference to reports of an illegal cock fighting ring happening at the residence. According to APD, when officers arrived at the home approximately 20 people on scene fled in various directions. In the body camera video it appears the group of men who all appear to be in their late teens and early 20s.
APD provided media body camera footage of the incident. The footage shows APD officers and Animal Control officers searching the outside yard of the residence. According to the video the residence can be seen with chicken coops all around and roosters can be heard crowing in the background. It appears from the video that just prior there was a large group at the residence. In the video numerous bottles of open Corona beers could be seen in trash cans and on tables set up surrounding the cock fighting arena.
There also appears to be an apparent cock fighting ring at the center of the yard. One of the officers appears to be very educated on the chickens, culture, and the illegal cockfighting rings themselves. The officer can be heard on the video explaining to fellow officers about the weapons rooster chickens have on them for the illegal fights.
One officer responds to the education about the weapons on the chickens feet:
“So, the blades will fuck you up?,” said one officer to the group.
We are told APD officers removed six fighting roosters and in the video there are blades and string still attached to the chicken roosters. One officer grabs the cock fighting rooster with a towel over it to carry it to the Animal Welfare truck to be transported.
According to APD, the main organizer of the fights, Adolfo Gonzales (01/19/1992), will be summons to court for cockfighting charges. Eleven other individuals received citations for cockfighting and six fighting roosters were recovered from the scene. One rooster was severely injured and another one was deceased presumably from a losing battle. Officers also found two breeding hens and their eggs along with a pit bull dog.
The animals will be taken to the City of Albuquerque’s Animal Welfare center to be evaluated and see if they can be adopted or will have to be destroyed.
In 2007, Governor Bill Richardson signed a law outlawing cock fighting in New Mexico. New Mexico was one of the last states to outlaw the activity.