A Green River couple faces charges for allegedly raising fighting roosters at their home.
Edgar Pena Cota, 39, and Maribel Escalante, 40, both face one charge of aggravated cruelty to animals, a felony, which carries a maximum possible sentence of up to two years in prison and up to a $5,000 fine. Additionally, if convicted, they may be forced to give up ownership of the animals and pay the costs associated with caring for them, as well as being prohibited or limited in their future capacity to own animals should the court decide those acts appropriate.
Both Cota and Escalante were released from the Sweetwater County Detention Center.
According to court documents, the Green River Animal Shelter received an anonymous call April 30 regarding a neighbor’s roosters crowing day and night. Animal Control Officer Kim Wilkins drove to the home and listened to the noise, identifying “many roosters crowing.” Wilkins then contacted Cota at the home and issued a seven-day period to fix the problem and offered suggestions to help quiet the roosters. Wilkins claims Cota told her he raises roosters to sell and had 30 of them in the coop, along with some hens. She alleged he told her he had sold one bird for $700 and the roosters in the coop were worth $250-500 apiece because they are expensive show birds. The charging documents state he told her he sells the birds outside of Wyoming.
Because roosters crow to claim territory and due to there being 30 rosters in the coop, Wilkins viewed the crowing as the roosters working out the pecking order of the flock. Roosters also crow to alert hens of a threat or predator and have an internal clock that keeps them crowing day and night, especially if there is more than one rooster in a flock or there are neighboring roosters.
On May 7, Wilkins spoke with the anonymous tipster who said nothing had changed in the previous seven days. Wilkins, with Officer Kevin Lennon, returned to the home at 485 E. 3rd N. St. and met with Escalante, who said her husband was out of town for work. Escalante then allowed the officers to look at the coops the roosters were living in to offer suggestions about how to keep them quiet. Lennon asked Escalante what the roosters were used for and she allegedly replied they were fighting birds.
Officers saw several coops and sheds, with one of the sheds having been converted to a coop while three other sheds were closed up. The three larger coops had roosters inside while a smaller coop had two roosters in it, with officers noting the roosters were “very large.” While looking at the roosters, Wilkins noticed the birds did not have a red crown on the top of their heads and had no waddle, the feathers found beneath the beak. Wilkins also noticed some roosters did not have spurs. Most of the roosters were kept in single boxes and were a mix of black and red, white and black and black and red birds. Wilkins also had never seen so many roosters in one place during her years as an animal control officer, and thought the fact Cota owned so many was unusual.
Wilkins later contacted Special Agent Dan Allison of the Wyoming Department of Criminal Investigation’s Southwest Enforcement Team, who contacted the USDA and was later contacted by Special Agent John Sherman of the Portland, Oregon field office. Sherman is considered very knowledgable about investigations into fowl fighting and said there were several indicators that hint to roosters being used in fighting. Those include the crown and waddle being trimmed, the rooster’s spurs being cut off to allow fighting blades to be fixed to the birds, the fact that people commonly buy chickens in trios consisting of two hens and one rooster and the fact that the price of a chicken, including prized FFA roosters, would only be about $20, but fighting roosters can be sold for several hundreds of dollars.
Sherman also provided a list of commonly-requested items for search warrants for animal cruelty investigations, which was forwarded to Wilkins and Det. Sgt. Robert Fischer.
On May 7, officers, along with DCI special agents and animal control officers, conducted a search at 485 E. 3rd N. St. While officers conducted the search warrant, Cota was having difficulty speaking with officers because Spanish is his first language. Lennon contacted Officer Monique Castro to ensure Cota knew the full reason why officers were searching his home. During an interview between Cota and Castro, Lennon and Wilkins, the GRPD claims Cota said he sells the roosters to get money for his family, selling them for $250-$300 apiece. Cota is also alleged to have told officers he takes the roosters to Salt Lake City for buyers. As for the trimmed crowns and waddles, he claims it was done for the health of the roosters, nothing else. He also allegedly told officers he gives the birds injections every 15 days and a liquid enriched with vitamins every seven days, denying the use of steroids on the birds.
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