Dozens of roosters allegedly shot to death by deputies and animal control

YAKIMA COUNTY, Wash. — Dozens of roosters set to be delivered to a farm animal sanctuary in Pierce County were allegedly shot and killed by Yakima County Sheriff’s deputies and Animal Control. According to Kate Tsyrklevich of Heartwood Haven, the sanctuary the 64 roosters were set to go to. She tells KIRO 7 she got word from ATF about the tragedy.

“It made no sense of why something like this would happen,” Tsyrklevich said.

Tsyrklevich also tells KIRO 7 the alleged reason why these roosters were put down this way?

“They didn’t want to wait for our rescue to get there because it would take us about 3 hours to drive there,” Tsyrklevich said.

Tsyrklevich says the sheriff’s office knew about the rescue and that the roosters were set to come to their animal sanctuary. KIRO7 has reached out to the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office and Animal Control for comment and information about what allegedly happened. We are still waiting for that response.

Cockfighting in Washington is a big problem according to both Tsyrklevich and groups like the Washington State Animal Fighting Task Force.

“The biggest thing is probably money. There’s a lot of money to be made in this realm,” Sam Moore with the group said.

Heartwood Haven took in over 50 roosters and other chickens rescued from a major cockfighting ring bust back in April. Tsyrklevich says all of those birds have found new homes.

“Not only that these birds are not dangerous, but it is also possible to rescue them,” Tsyrklevich said.

Tsyrklevich says her group is working tirelessly to also get answers from the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office about what happened. She hopes a tragedy like this never happens again.

“We were supposed to have 100 roosters crowing here. And it’s quiet,” Tsyrklevich said.

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