Officials in east Georgia are trying to track down more than 200 suspects after a bust at a weekend cockfighting tournament.
More than 30 people were arrested following the Saturday bust at a property northwest of Augusta, the Athens Banner-Herald reported.
Lincoln County sheriff’s deputies and Georgia Department of Natural Resources officers received a tip about the cockfighting tournament at a farm just outside Lincolnton, according to the newspaper.
When they arrived, authorities found a tournament with 46 entrants and cockfights happening in two different pens.
Participants and spectators began to run away from the tournament, with several abandoning their cars and chickens in the process, the Banner-Herald reported.
Lanier Hightower, who owned the farm, was arrested and charged with operating a gambling establishment and aggravated cruelty to animals.
Several others who were taken into custody were charged with felony aggravated cruelty to animals and felony commercial gambling, according to the Banner-Herald.
However, Lincoln sheriff’s office spokesman Maj. Jim Wallen told the newspaper the six officers who responded to the scene couldn’t arrest everyone at the tournament.
Officials found about 17 dead chickens on the property. Wallen said officers also found animal steroids and evidence that people were selling chickens and equipment.
“They had a concession stand,” Wallen told the Banner-Herald. “You know, they had everything. It was like going to the ballpark. Everything was there.”
More than 50 cars that were left behind were towed and impounded by the sheriff’s office. Investigators hope to use the impounded vehicles as leverage to encourage participants and spectators at the cockfighting tournament to surrender, the Banner-Herald reported.
If the cars are not claimed, the sheriff’s office intends to seize the vehicles.
“I’m giving them about 10 days to come in,” Wallen told the newspaper. “If they don’t do that, I’ll start with asset forfeiture.”
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