Six weeks after Northampton Police raided a Florence farm and seized 423 birds from a suspected cockfighting operation, nearly 200 of them have found new homes.
The roosters, hens and chicks seized from 1095 Florence Road, which is also home to Ravenwold Greenhouses, were taken by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to the MSPCA-Nevins Farm in Methuen in late May.
Some 190 birds deemed too aggressive for rehabilitation were euthanized, according to the MSPCA. The organization said it then contacted around 50 animal sanctuaries along the entire East Coast in an effort to find new homes for the remaining birds.
VINE Sanctuary in Springfield, Vermont, took 97 roosters, hens and chicks. VINE is a feminist sanctuary founded by social justice activists; VINE stands for “veganism is the next evolution.”
“We’re very grateful to MSPCA for working as hard as it did in this situation to place as many of the birds as possible,” VINE co-founder Pattrice Jones said. “It can be really overwhelming to a humane society or a rescue organization when one of these busts happens and they find themselves with literally hundreds of birds.”
When that happens, Jones said there are often many people telling the rescue organizations that nothing can be done and all the birds are euthanized without other efforts being made.
“In some small cases, like this one, the animal protection agency in question goes all out to find homes for the birds,” Jones said. “We’re really proud of them for that. We’re really grateful.”
Jones said VINE was the first sanctuary in the country to figure out how to rehabilitate fighting roosters in 2002. Prior to that time, roosters used in cockfighting were routinely euthanized without any effort to place them, Jones said.
“We worked hard to change that over many years by educating the sanctuary community, the animal rescue community, the community of humane societies about roosters and about the fact that they in fact can be rehabilitated,” Jones said. “Even if they have been used in fighting and they can learn to live peacefully in flocks.”
The birds placed at VINE about two weeks ago from MSPCA are well, Jones said.
One rooster and 10 hens have gone to the Tomten Farm & Sanctuary in Haverhill, New Hampshire. An additional 66 birds were split among private homes and other sanctuaries that did not wish to be publicly identified.
“This was one of the hardest cases we’ve ever dealt with and not just because the number of animals was so high,” Elizabeth Monteith, manager of the equine and farm animal programs at Nevins Farm, said in a statement. “Our teams were tireless in demonstrating compassion for every single bird in our care — even those we ultimately could not place — and the birds’ needs for enrichment, comfort and nourishing food remained our number one priority. We’re very grateful that those we could re-home will have a bright future beyond our borders.”
Northampton police descended on Ravenwold Greenhouses on May 24 after an animal control officer discovered signs of cockfighting — an unusually large number of roosters, “boxing gloves” that are placed over a rooster’s spur during training and a bag of medication and needles common to cockfighting — during an annual barn inspection around 2:30 p.m. that day, according to Northampton Police Sgt. Victor Caputo.
The investigation is ongoing as police try to identify any and all parities involved, detective Jared LaValle said Thursday. While the department still expects to file criminal charges in the case, LaValle said there were no timelines for when they would be filed.
There are still around 30 hens and a dozen chicks at Nevins Farm and all are expected to be placed into homes.
While the birds were kept at Nevins Farm, the organization made them “as comfortable as possible,” providing enriching perks like treat balls, toys, perches and — as they became available — larger crates and even nesting boxes.
Donations of kale, blueberries and other treats poured in from the community and staffers and volunteers ensured every bird had the chance to feast on as much of these foods as they could consume, the organization said.
Editor’s note: This story was updated on July 6, 2018 to accurately reflect the number of birds taken by VINE Sanctuary. Emily Cutts can be reached at ecutts@gazettenet.com.