Nearly 50 people have been arrested and 92 birds seized during a raid on a Southern California desert cockfighting operation.
Days before the Sunday morning raid, San Bernardino County officials announced a crackdown on the illegal blood sport and released a video of roosters slashing at each other with steel blades attached to their legs.
The Victorville Daily Press newspaper reports about 300 people attended Sunday's cockfight in a barn arena near Victorville. Property owner Fernando Hernandez and most of the spectators fled when deputies showed up.
Forty-seven people were arrested, mostly for being spectators. Six were booked for investigation of animal cruelty. There were about 20 dead roosters. Deputies seized 92 live birds and about USD 21,000.