50 arrested in Houston-area cock fighting operation

PEARLAND, Texas – Authorities in a suburban Houston county say they’ve arrested 50 people and have seized 165 birds in the bust of an elaborate, large-scale rooster fighting operation.

Brazoria County sheriff’s officers say they also found as many as 50 dead birds believed to have been killed in the fights.

Sheriff’s Lt. Varon Snelgrove says deputies responded Sunday to a call about a possible cock fighting operation in an unincorporated area of Pearland, immediately south of Houston, and found a large number of vehicles and people at the scene.

Snelgrove says 47 people have been jailed on pending misdemeanour charges of cock fighting while felony cock fighting charges are pending against three others.

Officers from the county’s animal control division are caring for the birds that were seized.