Birds from cockfighting operations being nursed back to health in Vienna

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The birds seized in two separate cockfighting operations this week are at a Vienna animal sanctuary and are doing well, says the head of Animal Charity of Ohio.

Shay Bolash said more than 50 birds taken from homes on Myron Street on Tuesday and East Lucius Avenue on Thursday are at the Happy Trails Animal Sanctuary in Vienna. There, they are being cared for by a group that is used to rehabilitating chickens that are trained to fight.

The birds taken Tuesday were in worse shape than those seized Thursday, but all are now healthy and expected to fully recover from the rigors of fighting, Bolash said.

U.S. marshals looking for a man Tuesday found about 20 birds alive and more than 25 dead at the Myron Street home. The man they were looking for was not there.

That man, Juan Tufino, 25, turned himself in at the Mahoning County jail Wednesday on a felony charge of escape and misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest and obstructing official business. He was released on 10 percent of $5,000 bond Thursday in all three cases after his attorney petitioned the municipal court for bond. He then was arraigned in municipal court on the charges Friday morning. His bond was continued, and he has a preliminary hearing set for Friday.

He has yet to face any charges pertaining to cockfighting, which is a first-degree misdemeanor.

On Thursday, humane agents as well as the police department’s Community Police Unit and vice squad served a search warrant investigating possible cockfighting at a home in the 500 block of East Lucius Avenue and found more than 30 birds there. They also found fighting pens and steroids given to the animals.

The Mahoning County Dog Warden’s office also assisted in serving that warrant.

No one has yet been charged in that incident. Bolash said investigators are still looking into the case and any charges in the future will be filed in municipal court.