SPCA: 35 fighting roosters euthanized
Pablo Lopez, 34, of Central Islip, is led out of the Fourth Precinct in Hauppauge for arraignment in Central Islip Criminal Court. He is charged with two felony counts of animal fighting. (Feb. 20, 2011) Credit: James Carbone
Thirty-five roosters taken from the basement of a Central Islip house during what police said was an illegal cockfight have been euthanized, said Chief Roy Gross of the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
"These birds were raised to fight and they cannot be rehabilitated," he said Monday.
"A number of years we tried to do that and gave [fighting birds] to a farmer upstate. He came out in the morning and all his other birds had been killed by these roosters."
Fighting birds can be worth thousands of dollars apiece on the black market, he said.
Rosa Medero, 37, and Pablo Lopez, 34, were each charged with two felony counts of animal fighting, after Suffolk police and Suffolk SPCA officers raided Medero's house at 285 Half Mile Rd. Saturday night.
Thirty-three spectators were cited with appearance tickets.
Medero was arrested in 2009 at the same location and charged with felony animal fighting and selling alcohol without a permit.
Gross urged anyone with information on this case, or other animal fighting cases, to call police or the Suffolk SPCA at 631-382-7722. All calls will be kept confidential.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
