Cockfighting ring uncovered during Eastern WA drug bust. 20+ roosters euthanized

Police in Eastern Washington discovered dozens of roosters and an illegal cockfighting operation this week while serving a drug search warrant.

Ignacio Gutierrez Martinez, 57, was booked into the Grant County jail on suspicion of three felony charges related to animal fighting and possessing methamphetamines. Jail records show he’s no longer being held there.

The county’s narcotics enforcement team served a warrant early Wednesday at a home on the 16000 block of Road C S.E. in Royal City, about 70 miles north of the Tri-Cities.

Police found scales, packaging materials, cash and a half-pound of crystal methamphetamine believed to be worth nearly $3,200, according to the Grant County Sheriff’s Office.

But that’s not all.

The narcotics team also discovered more than 20 roosters altered for cockfighting, with their natural spurs, wattles and combs removed.

“Detectives also found several knives that are commonly attached to roosters that have had their natural spurs removed,” read a Facebook post by the sheriff’s office. “The knives serve as a weapon to cause injury and death to an opponent.”

Grant County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Kyle Foreman said the court ordered the birds that were discovered to be euthanized. Cockfighting roosters are bread to attack other birds and cannot be rehabilitated in traditional livestock settings, he said.

“They are raised and bread to be aggressive,” Foreman said.

Cockfighting is a dangerous sport that’s often tied to organized crime, according to the Humane Society of the United States.

Not only do the animals regularly die during the event, but cock fighters themselves also have been killed after accidentally being slashed by their own birds, said the group.

Birds generally live in squalid conditions, are often injected with steroids or other drugs, and are kept in dark and decrepit environments, it said.