Federal agents arrested six people in Rhode Island and Massachusetts as part of the latest cockfighting roundup across the country involving suspected criminal rings that put razor-sharp blades on roosters as part of a battle to the death.
Forty-five people have been charged in grand jury indictments since January for running fights in California, Rhode Island and Washington State, according to Justice Department records. Most of the investigations target violations of the Animal Fighting Prohibition Act, which empowers prosecutors to bring strengthened charges.
“It is a federal crime to exhibit or sponsor an animal in, be a spectator at, or bring a minor under the age of sixteen to an animal fight,” according to the DOJ’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “It is also a federal crime to possess, purchase, sell, receive, transport, deliver, or train an animal for purposes of participation in an animal fight.”
A Rhode Island man is accused of running and sponsoring a series of derbies in 2022 out of his Providence home with five other men, the Justice Department said Tuesday . Federal prosecutors said two men in the group harbored roosters strictly for combat since 2021 and others procured weapons for the birds to wear.