Juan Contreras-Perez, age not given, was charged with one count of cockfighting, a petty misdemeanor, after an alleged cockfighting ring was discovered on a property in the village of Dona Ana, north of Las Cruces, earlier this week, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported.

Animal control officers uncovered the suspected cockfighting operation on Wednesday after they responded to a report of some 20 roosters being killed by a neighbor's dogs, the Sun-News said.

About 60 live roosters and hens were found on the property along with the dead birds, the paper reported.

Animal Control supervisor Curtis Childress said it is believed that cockfighting may have taken place on the property as recently as two or three weeks ago, the Sun-News said.

Under the newly passed New Mexico law, first offense cockfighting is a petty misdemeanor, while a second offense becomes a full misdemeanor and each subsequent offense is a fourth-degree felony, the paper said.

It is unlikely that Contreras-Perez will face any additional charges, Childress told the Sun-News.

7:35am 7/3/08 -- Alleged Cockfighting Ring Uncovered: Dona Ana County animal control discover illegal operation north of Las Cruces.

Dona Ana County animal control officers on Wednesday discovered an alleged cockfighting ring operating on a man's property in the village of Dona Ana north of Las Cruces, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported.

The alleged ring was uncovered when the owner of some roosters called officers to report that his neighbor's dogs had gotten onto his property and killed some of his birds, Animal Control Supervisor Curtis Childress told the Sun-News.

When officers investigated the complaint, they found a cockfighting pit as well as blades and other evidence of cockfighting, Childress told the paper.

Investigators found 20 dead roosters on the property and confiscated another 25 that were alive, taking them to the Mesilla Valley Services Center, according to KVIA News 7 in El Paso.

"As a result of what they (the dogs) did, it led us to the location, so some of the birds have died as a result, but we were able to spare many of the birds," Childress told El Paso television station KFOX.

According to the Sun-News, a first offense for cockfighting is a petty misdemeanor, a full misdemeanor for a second offense and a fourth-degree felony for every subsequent offense under a new law enacted in 2007.

Childress told KFOX both dogs have been taken into custody and could be euthanized. 

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