Editor's note: A new prosecution team in the City Attorney’s office is going after quality of life misdemeanors that poison neighborhoods, and can lead to crimes that take lives and destroy families. Think small-time drug dealing, prostitution, and vandalism. City Attorney John Russo says you can add cockfighting to the list. 

Responding to calls from neighbors, Oakland police raided a warehouse last winter where dozens of men had congregated.

Inside the Sanchez Ironworks in an industrial neighborhood of East Oakland, officers found dozens of men watching and gambling on cockfighting. Evidence photos from the raid show a disturbing scene: piles of dead and maimed birds, bet money, animal steroids, pools of blood on the floor and more splattered on the clothes of the birds’ handlers.

Cockfighting is a barbaric “sport” in which hyper-aggressive roosters are placed in a small enclosure to hack each other to death with gaffs – curved, razor-sharp blades attached to the feet of the animals when they fight. Cockfighting is illegal in every state, but it’s a tradition going back centuries both in the U.S. and in other countries, and it is sadly too common today in our state.

In Oakland, we’re going after those who profit from and get enjoyment from cockfighting using a new unit of criminal lawyers in the City Attorney’s Office called the Special Prosecution Team.

We formed this unit last year – in partnership with the Alameda County District Attorney – to go after the pervasive misdemeanors crimes that degrade the quality of life in Oakland and invariably lead to more serious and violent crimes.

These “quality-of-life” crimes include drug-related offenses, prostitution, vandalism and cruelty to animals. Misdemeanors associated with cockfighting are right up our alley.

Cockfighting may not be as heinous as homicide or other violent crimes that too often destroy families in our community. But it has often been associated with drug-dealing, concealed firearms and other serious crimes.

Watching animals rip each other to shreds for enjoyment sends a powerful message to both children and adults that cruelty, violence and disrespect for life and the law are acceptable – even admirable.

After the police raid on the warehouse last February, we charged about 70 people with being spectators at a cockfight. To date, defendants have paid about $12,000 in fines and served 111 hours of community service.

We hope these prosecutions send an equally powerful message that there are consequences for illegal behavior, and that the community won’t tolerate the kind of sadism at the heart of these events. Those who are not aware that cockfighting is illegal in the U.S. will find out – hopefully before they are standing in front of a judge.

Of course, we also intend to protect animals from suffering and dying for human entertainment. Even the birds who survive cockfights suffer terribly. Pierced eyes, punctured lungs and broken bones are common injuries. Gamecocks are bred and raised to be extremely aggressive, so they cannot be adopted even when recovered by law enforcement.

In Oakland, keeping roosters for any reason is prohibited by the municipal code. Anyone who suspects that cockfighting may be going on in their neighborhood should call the City Attorney’s Special Prosecution Team at (510) 238-3601.

We will continue to work with the Oakland police and other agencies to make sure there are consequences for this kind of animal cruelty in our city.