A Monte Alto property owner is facing charges after the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office found a makeshift cockfighting ring on his property.

Arnulfo Arizmendi, 41, was booked into the Hidalgo County jail on June 1 on a cockfighting charge. He has since been released on a $5,000 bond. 

Arnulfo Arizmendi. Photo credit: Hidalgo County jail records.

The sheriff's office says a Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter spotted a large gathering of vehicles at a ranch near Monte Alto last week. When deputies arrived, they searched a warehouse on the property.

"We found roosters. We found a dead rooster in a trash can. We found some blood in one of the cages," Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Raul Gonzalez said.

Deputies also found blades believed to have been used in the fights. Witnesses told authorities they were charged $20 to watch.

"People think that because they're outside the city limits that it's okay to do activities like this, and it's not. It's against the law," Gonzalez said.

Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action, says the case is part of a broader pattern.

"This fighting derby looks like other fighting derbies across Texas and across the United States," Pacelle said. "Cockfighting is a barbaric and inhumane activity where roosters have knives or curved ice picks attached to their legs. They're placed in a pit to slash each other to death."

He says other criminal activity often follows these events.

"When you see animal fighting, you see other criminal activities associated with it. So it's not unusual for large amounts of cash , weapons, illegal firearms, and narcotics to be discovered. This is very common," Pacelle said.

Pacelle's Washington D.C.-based organization is also pushing for federal action.

"We're supporting the FIGHT Act. We have a second bill in Congress to stop the transport of fighting birds in commercial aviation, shipping them to Asia or Mexico or Ecuador for fights," Pacelle said.

The case remains under investigation.

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