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Copyright © 2016 Albuquerque Journal

Officers seized 56 roosters, which they say were prepped for cockfighting, from an Albuquerque home this week.

The birds were found by officers executing a search warrant at a home near Central NE on Wednesday after a monthslong Animal Welfare Department criminal investigation. Though the birds weren’t severely injured, police say their combs and other appendages were cut for fighting.

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Officers also seized syringes used to inject the birds and knives that cockfighting trainers attach to roosters’ legs for deadlier fights.

According to a search warrant affidavit, a man named Hector Garcia-Salas let officers onto a property in the 200 block of Wisconsin NE, where they saw the roosters clipped for fighting.

Animal Welfare Department Capt. Christopher Romero said Garcia-Salas hasn’t been arrested or charged yet because police are still investigating. Romero said it doesn’t appear the birds were fighting at the home.

He said officers began investigating after a tipster told them someone was training roosters for cockfighting at the home.

When officers went to the property, they found 56 roosters in individual cages. All of them had parts of their bodies cut off, including their combs, spurs and wattles.

Combs are flaps of skin on the top of the roosters’ heads, wattles are the flaps of skin hanging below their beaks and spurs are sharp talons on the back of their legs.

Romero said cutting combs and wattles is a common cockfighting handler trick.

“From what I understand, those are cut because they bleed profusely when they’re ripped open,” Romero said.

After cutting off the spurs, handlers strap small blades to roosters’ legs instead.

“It’s a whole mechanism that is designed specifically for cockfighting,” Romero said. “The knives are made specifically for that.”

Officers seized multiple knives from the home.

They also found evidence that the birds were being injected with vitamins such as B12, A and D.

“They use a lot of enhancements on these birds to keep them going longer,” Romero said. Officers also found antiseptics presumably used to treat the birds’ injuries after a fight.

Romero said a city ordinance prohibits residents from keeping more than one rooster on a property. City ordinances also prohibit owning or caring for cockfighting roosters.

Garcia-Salas will likely be cited for violating those ordinances but may also face more serious charges, Romero said.

Garcia-Salas could not be reached for comment.

Romero said cockfighting isn’t an unusual crime in Albuquerque, but the Animal Welfare Department hasn’t investigated many other cases recently.

“We haven’t gotten a lot of reports on it, so it’s a pretty tight group,” he said. “It’s happening underneath our noses and we just happened to get a report on this one.”