RITA COOK / Freelance Writer
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INDIA – Ellis County Sheriff’s Department broke up a major cockfighting ring in the 700 block of E. India in Ellis County near the City of Ferris.
According to the Sheriff’s Department, there were 16 citations made at the location with no arrests and no towed vehicles from the location.
A media release from animalwellnessaction.org reported this event as being the third illegal Texas Cockfighting Derby during the month of March.
“For the third time in the last month, and acting on tips from concerned citizens, Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK) and Animal Wellness Action were on site to document illegal cockfighting derbies in Texas and alerted local authorities in real time, causing the cockfighters to scatter and shutting down their fighting derbies,” the release stated.
Animal Wellness Action and SHARK alerted the Ellis County Sheriffs’ Office to the massive gathering and the fighting venue with the use of drones.
“After sheriff’s deputies and animal control arrived on scene, cockfighters began fleeing, leaving behind vehicles, masses of dead birds, and also live birds.”
“Ellis County law enforcement responded quickly and they treated the crimes occurring on a property in Ferris with the seriousness they deserved,” said Steve Hindi, president of SHARK, who was on the scene at the cockfighting derby.
“We documented fights occurring in broad daylight, and it was a scene of massive carnage.”
Kevin Chambers, investigator with Animal Wellness Action also on the scene added, “This was a major cockfight, and the people involved brazenly orchestrated staged animal combat in the light of day.
“Ellis County is chockablock with fighting rooster farms that raise birds for use in these cruel cockfights, and this community apparently gathered at the fighting venue on Saturday.”
It is a felony in Texas to host a cockfight or to participate in a cockfighting derby.
There is a bill in the state legislature to further strengthen this law.
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