Kentucky State Police charge 54 people with animal cruelty in cockfighting operation
The Kentucky State Police in Columbia charged 54 individuals in connection to an organized chicken-fighting event in Casey County.
State police were called to investigate an animal cruelty complaint reported in Casey County Saturday, according a Jan. 5 release from the agency. They received the call around 11 a.m. and were told an active fighting event was taking place on Riffe Creek Road.
Troopers responded to the property and made contact with numerous individuals involved in the event, according to state police.
As a result, 54 people were charged with second-degree cruelty to animals and cited to the Casey County District Court. Police did not release the names of the individuals arrested Sunday.
The bust comes a month after a Whitesburg cockfighting operation was shutdown and its owner sentenced.
Robert Dwayne Baker pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit animal fighting, a felony under federal law. As part of his guilty plea, Baker also agreed to dismantle the venue and forfeit a total of $85,395.
The pit Baker owned at Isom, in Letcher County, was called the Whitesburg Chicken Pit or American Testing Facility, according to court records.
The venue had seating for an estimated 500 people, a concession stand, a main fighting pit, a station to weigh roosters and a place to sharpen the metal gaffs that participants put on the roosters’ legs during fights so they can cut their opponents, according to the court record.
