MORE than 150 fighting roosters have been surrended from a second Melton property after an RSPCA raid.
RSPCA inspector Shannon Walsh said officers went to sheds in Plumpton on November 1 when the gamecocks were humanely destroyed.
The raid followed the breaking of an alleged cockfighting ring as the result of a raid on a Rockbank property in September.
“The previous investigation brought to our attention other properties in Plumpton and Lovely Banks, near Geelong, where the two sheds were housing 300 gamecocks in total,” Mr Walsh said.
Police are interviewing a man charged in relation to the Plumpton raid.
More than 80 convictions relating to the Rockbank raid were handed down at Sunshine Magistrates Court on October 26 and November 2, 9 and 16.
As reported by the Weekly, hundreds of birds and metal spurs were seized from Rockbank on September 9. Three- hundred roosters had to be destroyed.
Of the 86 men charged, 84 were convicted and ordered to pay between $1500 and $2500, to be forfeited to the RSPCA.
Magistrate Sharon Cure heard that police seized $100,000 in cash in the September raid. The RSPCA will receive the cash seized.
Mr Walsh hoped the penalties would send a clear message that cockfighting was barbaric and most often resulted in the death of gamecocks.
Each man convicted was also banned from owning roosters for 10 years. The remaining two cases will be heard at Sunshine Magistrates Court next month.
