27 roosters in SUV land 4 St. Paul men in Colorado jailhouse

The men were transporting the 27 birds from California. Authorities suspect illegal cockfighting.

By ABBY SIMONS, Star Tribune

Last update: March 16, 2008 - 11:15 PM

Four St. Paul men face felony animal cruelty charges after a routine traffic stop Friday in Colorado yielded more than two dozen live roosters that authorities say were intended for cockfighting in Minnesota.

On Sunday, a Minneapolis animal-welfare advocate said the bust is a sign that the illegal blood sport remains alive and well in the Twin Cities.

The Minnesotans were headed east along Interstate 70 outside Golden, Colo., said Gilbert Mares, public information officer for the Colorado State Patrol. The trooper found 27 live roosters caged in the back of the sport-utility vehicle.

Dang Vang, 23; Billy Thao, 21; Sieng Vang, 24, and Ma Vang, 24, were charged with using animals for fighting, a felony in Colorado, and booked into the Jefferson County jail. The birds were taken to a shelter, where they are being held as evidence.

The men told troopers they had picked up the birds in California and were returning home to Minnesota.

Mares delivered an emphatic "no" when asked whether poultry was a common discovery for the Colorado State Patrol.

Mary Britton Clouse of Minneapolis, founder of Chicken Run Rescue, which rescues the birds and places them in adoptive homes, said she rescues an average of two to three a year.

Britton Clouse said cockfighting is legal in many countries, including Puerto Rico and the Philippines, and remains immensely popular in Asia and Central America. Immigrants from those largely rural cultures frequently call her when an advertisement for an adoptable bird appears online, she said.

She blames laws that she believes were until recently too lax for the flourishing underground contests, in which roosters, often fed aggression-enhancing drugs and outfitted with metal spurs, fight, sometimes to the death.

Under Minnesota law, participating in cockfights and possessing birds to do so are felonies, but possessing the implements for a fight, such as a ring, is legal. The Humane Society of the United States ranks Minnesota the 17th toughest state for laws against cockfighting.

St. Paul police said they rarely see cockfighting incidents. They are typically encountered during a separate investigation, such as narcotics violations, they said.

"To charge one, you would almost have to walk in and find the people actually doing it," said Sgt. Eric Anderson.

In March 2007, St. Paul police found 11 roosters and a hen in the home of 19-year-old Pao Vang, who was being investigated for an unrelated traffic accident. A pen that could be used for a fighting area was also discovered, and the birds, some wounded, were confiscated. Vang's mother said the birds were for food, and he was not immediately arrested or charged.

The battle to outlaw cockfighting, Britton Clouse said, must begin with legislators.

Cockfighting has "been around for a very long time and opposition to it has been around for a very long time, but only recently have laws reflected a change," she said. "It takes a while for things to get codified that are already abhorred by the culture."

Abby Simons • 612-673-4921

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