AR-News: (TX - US) More on cockfighting bust in Santa Fe, TX

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    Man held on a charge of cruelty to animals
<A HREF="mailto:nathan.smith at galvnews.com">By Nathan Smith</A> 

The Daily News

Published March 30, 2004



SANTA FE — A Santa Fe man Monday remained the only person charged in 
connection with an illegal cockfighting event.



Manuel Lopez Vargas, 52, was being held on $20,000 bond on a charge of 
cruelty to animals. The charge alleges he ran a cockfighting ring that was raided by 
sheriff’s deputies over the weekend.



Deputies and Santa Fe police descended upon Vargas’ residence in the 15000 
block of Fir Road about 2:30 p.m. Sunday detaining more than 100 people. 
Sheriff’s office detectives said Mon-day that the cockfighting enterprise was 
extremely organized and had likely been operating for quite some time.



“The whole thing took place in an old barn designed to hold chickens, with a 
ring in there and chicken coops that were made out of some pretty old wood,” 
said detective Randy Burrows of the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office. “My 
guess is that it’s been there a while.”



Participating as a spectator at a cockfight is a Class C misdemeanor 
according to the SPCA, and law enforcement officials said they hoped that a full 
forensic investigation would yield additional charges and suspects. Burrows 
credited the Houston SPCA’s insight into such illegal events as invaluable to the 
ongoing investigation.



“Cockfighting, unfortunately, is fairly common,” said Alice Sarmiento, the 
director of development and community outreach for the Houston SPCA. “In fact, 
we were called out to a similar bust just last week. In the year and a half 
since I’ve been with the organization, though, we haven’t seen anything this 
big.”



The Houston SPCA was awarded temporary custody of 127 fighting birds 
following the bust and will fight in court to receive full custody.



“If we are awarded full custody, we will have to humanely euthanize all of 
the birds,” said Sarmiento. “These are fighting birds; they aren’t pets and 
they aren’t barnyard animals. 



“They’re trained to be very aggressive towards other birds, will fight to 
kill and have to be caged separately. It’s unfortunate that this is the only 
life they know.”



For now, though, the animals remain housed in the SPCA’s facilities.



“Unfortunately, we’ve seen enough of these cases that we had all of the 
equipment we needed ready,” said Sarmiento.



Sunday’s bust was perfect example of how the community can put an end to 
animal cruelty in their neighborhoods, she said.



“It was a concerned citizen who called law enforcement in the first place,” 
said Sarmiento. “People may know this kind of thing is going on, but they need 
to know that stuff like this is illegal. If they think a case of animal 
cruelty is going on, they should give us a call and we can investigate.” 

        

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