Quieting the Rooster Chorus Monterey County to start enforcing cock-raising rules

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By Royal Calkins

If you live in northern Monterey County and are awakened by a chorus of crowing roosters, peace may be on the horizon.

Spurred by a lawsuit by two animal rights groups, Monterey County officials have volunteered to finally start enforcing their so-called Rooster Ordinance, which was intended to rein in the cockfighting industry that has grown nearly out of control in and around the North County communities of Prunedale, Royal Oaks and Las Lomas and beyond.

Setting the lawsuit aside for a year-long trial period, the county has agreed to begin requiring permits for those keeping five or more roosters, which should give county and animal-control officials the ability to shut down breeding operations intended to create the stock for cockfighting operations or that create an unreasonable noise level. Here is the complaint from the Humane Farming Association and the agreement between that group and the county

Numerous residents have complained about the noise coming from hundreds of rooster pens and animal-rights activists have complained about cruel cockfights carried out in barns and pens throughout the county.

The county enacted an ordinance to control the nuisance six years ago but it was written in coordination with some of the largest breeding operations and has seldom if ever been enforced. Two years ago, members of the Monterey County civil grand jury fanned out in North County and found considerable evidence that the county was ignoring its own ordinance. County officials told grand jurors that combatting the growing cockfighting industry was among the lowest priorities of county officialdom. Grand jurors estimated the number of cockfighting operations in the thousands but didn’t provide documentation.

“The Board of Supervisors had good intentions in their fight to eliminate illegal rooster keeping operations,” the grand jury reported. “Unfortunately, Monterey County agencies are operating under a process, created by the Environmental Health bureau, that effectively modifies the implementation and enforcement of the ordinance. As a result, agencies are confused about their roles, have been poorly trained, and the public does not know where to turn to have their concerns addressed.”

“The restrictions contained in the ordinance are legal and justified,” the report continued. “The mechanism for enforcement is weak and illegal rooster keeping operations in Monterey County continue with impunity.“

The grand jury concluded that the county Agricultural Commissioner’s Office shares enforcement responsibilities with the Environmental Health bureau but that Environmental Health had instructed the Ag Commissioner’s Office to ignore the ordinance.

In this new agreement with the Humane Farming Association and a group known as Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK), county officials say they will create a task force made up of representatives of county animal services, the County Counsel’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office, the SPCA, the Sheriff’s Office, the county Resource Management Agency and the Board of Supervisors.

According to the agreement filed in court, the task force will hold quarterly meetings and will also be able to address animal cruelty cases at large. The county and the SPCA will take steps to publicize the requirements created by the ordinance while the county animal services operation will provide training for law enforcement on how to investigate animal cruelty cases.

Sheriff’s departments throughout California have tended to avoid busting cockfights even though the gatherings often lead to heavy gambling, public drunkenness, open drug dealing and other lawbreaking.

Letter: Cockfighting roosters can be rehabilitated

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Royal Calkins

About Royal Calkins

Contributing writer Royal Calkins has worked for newspapers in Santa Cruz, Monterey and Fresno. He can be reached at calkinsroyal@gmail.com.

4 thoughts on “Quieting the Rooster Chorus Monterey County to start enforcing cock-raising rules

  1. Another consequence of cockfighting gatherings is the probable spread of Covid-19. Or perhaps they have been taking precautions…wearing masks? Think so? I wonder!

  2. Roosters rescued from cockfighters can usually be rehabilitated to live like normal chickens with their hens in a place where they lose their fear of abuse and enjoy the opportunity to forage in the soil, dustbathe, sunbathe, perch in trees, and socialize as Nature intended. We currently have 4 roosters rescued from cockfighting operations in our predator-proof outdoor sanctuary in Virginia. Over the years we’ve adopted roosters from cockfighting raids in Mississippi, Alabama, and Virginia Beach, VA. I hope this new task force will effectively curb – best of all stop – staged cockfights in Monterey. Roosters prefer family over fighting. Thank you!

  3. Thank you for making a stand for Animals rights. I live in Salinas myself and I must say that I have never seen such a hotbed of Animal Abuse .I have been trying for over five years now to just to get anyone to respond. . But with no success. There is just too much corruption. I thought I was being a good Citizen by informing them that there was a new Organized Dog Fighting ring setting up in my neighborhood But instead of investigating that ,It was easier for them to assonate my caricature so they wouldn’t have to deal with it. Who can you trust?

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