Colorado sanctuary rescues cockfighting roosters, helps to get them adoption

It's hard to miss the sounds of what has now become a full nest for Jewel Johnson's Rooster Sanctuary at Danzig's Roost.

"There's not a lot of sanctuaries that will actually take in more than one fighting rooster, if any," said Johnson.

Johnson has been running the sanctuary, located in rural Bennett, since 2010.

"I bought this property so I could help backyard roosters," she said. "Some people were buying chicks, and they wanted hens for eggs, and some of them would start to croak. Some of the baby chicks would start to crow at about 4 months old and they would dump the roosters."

Here, Johnson could help take care and get those roosters adopted out to homes who wanted them.

"In 2014, I did my first cockfighting rescue," said Johnson. "That was 70 roosters from Cheyenne, Wyoming."

Ever since the first rescue, Johnson's mission to help roosters has shifted focus.

"It struck a chord with me, kind of ignited a passion," she said.

Now, she is devoted just as much to helping roosters who have survived cockfighting operations. The latest rescue, happened just days ago, when they received 68 game fowl, after a cockfighting operation bust in Norman, Oklahoma on Jan. 23.

"We had a few days to prepare. We had volunteers come for two days in a row, so we did revive some old coups," said Johnson. "We did receive them on Sunday evening."

Since Sunday, volunteers at the sanctuary have been working hard to provide medical care to fighting roosters who have been injured and also get them ready to be adopted by the public.

"We only have the accommodations for fewer than 20 of them," said Johnson. "That is our biggest plea is looking for adopters that are zoned to have a rooster."

Johnson says one of the biggest challenges in encouraging people to take in fighting roosters as pets, is the stigma that has been built around them.

"When the authorities tell the public that these birds are aggressive or dangerous, they cannot be adopted out, that isn't true," she said. "The birds are just trying to survive and the ones that are bred for cockfighting are bred to be fought. They're not trained to be fought, but the public believes that they're trained and roughed up and like kind of brainwashed in some ways."

Johnson says fighting roosters are bred to fight other roosters, but they're also bred to be handled by humans.

"When you pick one up, even just right out of the kennel right after they've been rescued, they calm immediately," she said.

Right now, each rooster is separated by a kennel or coup to prevent them from fighting each other, but Johnson says that is no way to help these animals continue to live out good lives.

"They don't deserve to live alone forever," she said.

Several roosters have already been adopted, while some people from out of state are also considering taking on the care of some of these birds. That is why Johnson hopes the community can also help by providing transportation.

"We need good transportation. We need people to help transfer them out because we can't be gone from the sanctuary in order to do that, and finding local placement seems to be slow," she said.

For more information about the sanctuary and ways to reach out and help, go to roostersanctuary.org.