Police arrest 2 for suspected cockfighting

Olney police arrested two men for drug possession and for possessing roosters and paraphernalia used in cockfighting as they drove through town, Chief Dan Birbeck said. The officer pulled over the white four-door sedan with Colorado license plates for speeding down Main Street on Feb. 24, Chief Birbeck said. The officer smelled marijuana wafting from inside the vehicle, and asked to search it, Chief Birbeck said. He found five fighting roosters being transported illegally in wood- en boxes, he said. “They were being transported inhumanely with the intent to fight them,” he said. The officer also discovered cockfighting paraphernalia, including “gaffs” or razors to attach to the roosters’ legs, he said.

“They admitted they were transporting them for the use of cockfighting,” he said. The two men were arrested on suspicion of marijuana and psilocybin mushrooms, he said. The roosters were being held by Olney Animal Control until March 25, he said.

Cockfighting is punished as a state jail felony with a maximum possible fine under Texas state law of up to $10,000 and jail time of up to two years, according to the state penal code. Federal law also prohibits any interstate or foreign transport of fighting animals.