4 arrested after being found with injured birds in bags
Four Lawrence men are facing animal cruelty charges after a state trooper found three horrifically injured roosters stuffed in laundry and garbage bags in a car they pulled over early Sunday morning in Sturbridge, police say.
Trooper Sergio Figueiredo stopped a 2003 Honda Accord on Route 84 about 1:45 a.m. after the driver allegedly failed to move over for an ambulance with its lights and sirens activated, state police say. The men, identified by police as Winton Hernandez, 26, Cesareo Ruiz, 54, William Morales, 22, and Erik Lora-Lopez, 23, were arrested on charges including animal cruelty, promoting animal fighting and conspiracy.
The four were each released on $500 bail. It was not immediately clear when they would be arraigned.
State police spokesman David Procopio said investigators believe the men were returning from cockfights in New Jersey.
Police say Figueiredo noted a sticker on the rear of the car that read “TRABA 24K,” featuring a rooster’s silhouette.
Figueiredo called for backup when he spotted a bag moving under one of the car’s seats and heard noises he thought sounded like hens or roosters.
The three roosters that were later rescued from inside two laundry bags and a plastic garbage bag were so badly injured that Figueiredo feared two of them were already dead, state police said.
The birds were found with no feathers below the neck and chest and “were covered with gouges on their breasts, legs and heads,” police said.
In addition to the injured birds, investigators seized a bag they said contained “several rolls of medical tape, nail files, a block of wax, long sharp acrylic talons, and a container of styptic powder which is used to stop bleeding.”
The roosters are receiving medical care at Tufts Veterinary Hospital in Grafton.