Alleged cockfighting
ring busted

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - State police on Wednesday busted an alleged cockfighting ring operating out of Albuquerque, the second alleged ring busted in five days.

Inside the home near Amalia Road and Foothill Drive SW, investigators found 77 roosters, many of whom were injured or had markings allegedly from cockfighting. Police also found several dead birds and body parts around the property.

Also inside, according to police, investigators found four guns, three marijuana plants and a substance suspected to be cocaine. Police said the man who lived there was also allegedly making his own alcohol in large amounts.

Heather Ferguson of the New Mexico Attorney General's Animal Cruelty Task Force said the man apparently had his name on many labels for rooster cages that had been shipped across the country.

Investigators said this bust may be connected to another bust over the weekend in Highland Meadows in Valencia County. There, police found 50 to 100 roosters that had allegedly been bred for fighting.

The homeowner, whose name has not been released, has been arrested. The birds will all be euthanized, police said.

The New Mexico Legislature banned cockfighting in 2007.