The first clue came when someone called 911 about 20 people carrying chickens into a house on St. Paul's East Side.

Officers who went there early Saturday were told by a resident that "nobody was fighting chickens," according to a police incident report.

But the officers followed the distinct sound of roosters crowing into the basement of the duplex and found 40 to 50 men gathered around "a large rooster fighting ring," the report said. One man was holding a rooster in each arm and another 35 to 40 birds were in the vicinity.

Two St. Paul men, ages 39 and 31, were arrested and are being held in the Ramsey County jail. Authorities have until noon today to file charges or release them. The rest of the men in the crowd were cited for being at a disorderly house, which is a petty misdemeanor, police spokesman Tom Walsh said Monday.

Saturday's arrests come just weeks after four St. Paul men were arrested and charged in Colorado with felony animal cruelty after 27 roosters intended for cockfighting were found in their sport-utility vehicle.

The men were stopped March 14 near Golden, Colo., by the Colorado State Patrol for a traffic violation and told troopers they were transporting the roosters from California to St. Paul.

Cockfighting "periodically will raise its ugly head" in St. Paul, Walsh said, "but not very often."

"It's not the kind of thing we get a lot of calls about," he said. "Typically we find out because we're looking for something else."

St. Paul police found three incidents of cockfighting in 2007, Walsh added.

Keith Streff, senior investigator for the Animal Humane Society, called cockfighting "vicious, cruel and the purest form of a blood sport."

He said fighting roosters are not "your typical bantam rooster ... or oven-roasting bird." They are specially bred for the illegal activity, he said.

A man who emerged Monday afternoon from the duplex on Margaret Street refused to talk to a reporter.

Under Minnesota law, participating in cockfights and possessing birds to do so are felonies.

A bill that would make possessing any animal-fighting paraphernalia a misdemeanor unanimously passed in the state Senate and is awaiting a vote in the House.

Staff writers Jenna Ross and Jim Kern contributed to this report. Pat Pheifer • 651-298-1551