BENNETT, Colo. — Dozens of roosters rescued from a cockfighting ring in Norman, Oklahoma are now being housed in Colorado.
The Norman Police Department said officers found the animals last week after responding to a barn fire. Nine puppies were trapped in that fire. Unfortunately, they didn’t survive. Police said while attempting to rescue the puppies, animal welfare officers discovered a large-scale rooster fighting operation nearby.
Norman Police said they found 77 roosters living in deplorable conditions along with evidence of brutal training and exploitation of the animals for fighting purposes.
Sixty-eight of those birds are now at Rooster Sanctuary at Danzig’s Roost in Bennett. Jewel Johnson said several of them were still bleeding when they arrived Sunday.
“They were just mostly scared when they got here,” Johnson said.
Johnson said the sanctuary is already home to dozens of rescued roosters, and adding 68 more has put them well over capacity. She said there isn’t enough room for each rooster to have its own coop, so some are living in cages and kennels.
“Living in a kennel is no life,” Johnson said. “I mean, you can’t ethically house that many birds without a full staff and everyone having a really nice coop like our long-term residents have here. I am hoping that we can find really good adoptive homes.”
68 roosters rescued from Oklahoma fighting ring taken to Colorado rescue
A few roosters have already been adopted since arriving in Colorado, but Johnson said they need more people to step up and help out.
They may have been bred for violence, but Johnson said these birds are lovers, not fighters.
“I think they’re really misunderstood, and I want to show people what they’re really like,” Johnson said. “I think if people can see what they’re really like, there will be more help for them. There are not a lot of people that care, and I just want to show people why they should care.”
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