PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department rescued 232 birds, including roosters, hens, and chickens during an operation down in Buckley in early August. Out of those 232, 120 were roosters and all of them are at Heartwood Haven, a farm animal sanctuary in Roy, waiting to be adopted.
“These roosters are so deserving, and we just want them to end up in a good situation,” Kate Tsyrklevich with Heartwood Haven said.
Sgt. Darren Moss Jr. with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department says the birds found on the property were being trained to cockfight and then shipped down to Mexico. He says the owner of the property was never arrested because he wasn’t there during the bust. Sgt. Moss Jr. says detectives found evidence suggesting the birds were also drugged up for the fights.
“And they had plenty of knives and little, tiny boxing gloves you put on their feet to train these roosters on how to fight in these cockfights,” Moss Jr. said.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department also tells KIRO 7 a lot of illegal activity goes on during cockfighting events.
“It’s important that we rescue the birds and stop the illegal activity because it is part of a larger amount of illegal activity that goes on as well,” Sgt. Moss Jr. said.
According to Tsyrklevich, this operation is the biggest cockfighting rescue in Washington state history. She and the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department tell KIRO 7 that in most big operations like this, the roosters are sadly put down. But Sgt. Moss Jr. says he and the department are happy to work with Heartwood Haven and organizations like them to help these animals.
“Which normally, we would just destroy and have euthanized, but in this situation, we were able to find a rescue that is going to try and rehome every single one of those birds,” Sgt. Moss Jr. said.
Tsyrklevich believes the amount of awareness there is now around cockfighting is part of the reason why these birds can get the help they need.
“And so now, I think a lot of animal control jurisdictions are wanting to save the birds rather than automatically euthanizing them,” Tsyrklevich said.
If you would like to adopt one of the roosters, click here for more.