LINCOLNTON, Ga. (AP) – Georgia officials are looking for more than 200 suspects after a “chaotic” bust of a giant cockfighting tournament over the weekend.
More than 30 people have been arrested following the Saturday bust at a property northwest of Augusta, Lincoln County sheriff’s Maj. Jim Wallen told local news outlets.
Charges include felony aggravated cruelty to animals and felony commercial gambling, Wallen said.
Sheriff’s deputies and officers from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources got a tip about the tournament at Lanier Hightower’s farm outside Lincolnton. When they arrived, Waller said officers found ongoing cockfights in two pens, with 46 entrants in the tournament.
Participants and spectators fled, many abandoning their chickens and vehicles. Wallen described the scene as “chaotic” saying the six officers who responded couldn’t arrest everyone there.