Neighbors have noted the presence of numerous roosters in the eastern area of Lakewood just south of West Alameda Avenue. But the possibility of fighting cocks being raised there didn’t seem to occur to them.
“I thought they were eating them,” said Danny Barros, who lives in an apartment across the street from 5335 W. Virginia Ave.
Those roosters, 141 illegal fighting cocks, were seized and euthanized by authorities Monday, along with 29 hens and several chicks.
Ha Do, owner of the property, was booked and released while the Jefferson County district attorney decides whether to issue a felony summons for animal fighting.
Phil Shephard, who lives in the same apartment building as Barros, said he once saw two men on the property with a couple of roosters they seemed to be trying to get to fight.
“I was going to call (authorities) on it, but I was on my way to school, and I just spaced it out,” he said.
A woman whose condominium overlooks the barnyard from the back said she never saw a lot of people gathered there, as there might be during a cockfighting match.
Do said no cockfighting ever took place on his property. He leases the pens to seven people who raise the birds, Do said. He has been trying to contact them, he said.
Do said he believes it is legal to raise and sell the fighting cocks as long as you don’t fight them in Colorado.
But Steve Davis of the Lakewood Police Department said it is illegal to house or train them, not just to fight them.
John Maulsby, an assistant state veterinarian, said this is the first time in his 17 years with the state that he recalls fighting cocks being found in that area.
In order for the cocks to be seized and charges filed, Maulsby said, it needs to be shown that there was an intent to fight the cocks.
Pam Russell, the district attorney’s spokeswoman, said the evidence will be reviewed and a decision will be made on filing a charge against Do.
Tuesday’s silent sunrise caught some of those in the neighborhood a little off guard. The roosters that usually celebrate the coming of each day in those environs lost their cock-a-doodle-do.
“It was great,” one neighbor said. “It was eerie last night. “It’s eerily quiet, peacefully quiet.”
Staff writer Jim Kirksey can be reached at 303-820-1448 or jkirksey@denverpost.com.
