Former Cockfighting Rooster Moon is a Gentle Bird
Animal Stories from All-Creatures.org

FROM Rooster Sanctuary at Danzig's Roost
February 2021

Forced to fight, Moon's toes were broken and cut off, and his eye was also injured. He was then kept as a breeder bird so he could make more baby birds who would also be fought like he had been.

Moon...

Moon was used in bloody cockfighting where he had to fight for his life so people could make bets on him and win money. His toes were broken and cut off, and his eye was also injured. He was then kept as a breeder bird so he could make more baby birds that would also be fought like he had been.

Authorities stormed the property where Moon and 299 other birds lived, not to save Moon and his many friends, but to search for a shooting suspect on the property. What was found was hundreds of birds used for fighting and breeding, copious amounts of crystal meth and paraphernalia used during cockfights like "gaffs" which are weapons that are strapped to the legs of roosters in a fight.

Moon was lucky. Most of the time, when birds are seized from cockfighting and game farm operations, the birds are killed. Due to our diligence in educating animal control workers and those involved in cockfighting busts, we've been able to prevent hundreds and hundreds of birds just like Moon from being euthanized.

Moon is a gentle bird. His partner, Star, is a feisty white hen and she's lovely also. Once, Moon took one of Star's eggs and tucked it under himself so he could try and hatch it. He gave up after a few days, but the gesture was as perfect as any mother hen could do.

At night, Moon and Star perch up in their shade sail, and we have to scoop them up and close them inside their coop where they are safe from the elements and predators. Moon announces his time to be scooped up as if he's receiving a treat! Roosters do a special call when announcing goodies to hens, and this is the same sound Moon makes when he gets to be held.

Help us continue to break the myths that birds used for cockfighting are aggressive and dangerous, when the opposite is actually true.

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