Animal Control Operations Manager Lori Charette said that - though the animals were healthy and the facility clean, the operation raised flags for responding animal control officer Kerri Francis, who called for police backup.
"It was all boarded up. Electrical cords running into it, things like that," Charette said. "Something was definitely sketchy going on there."
Officers were initially suspicious that the birds may have been used for cockfighting, but the lack of recent injuries or gaming paraphernalia and the presence of non-fighting hens cast doubt on that theory, according to Charette.
Francis responded to a noise complaint about roosters crowing at about 10 a.m. Thursday to find the birds in a boarded-up trailer off Southampton Road. Francis called police and code enforcement officers for back up, and spoke with the trailer's tenant when he arrived at the scene.
"We were kind of curious wondering what was going on. There were some pens in the back," Charette said. "His story was that he just brings them out in the day to get some air."
Officers seized the chickens and eggs, citing a city ordinance that requires at least five acres of land to keep roosters. Westfield Police Capt. Mike McCabe said the tenant had been asked to vacate the property by the property owner, who had been led to believe the trailer was being used to store auto parts, not birds.
The trailer was clean when officers searched it, Charette said. Some of the roosters were missing combs or feathers, but none had fresh or serious injuries.
The hens and roosters are now housed at Westfield's city animal shelter, where they are awaiting state blood tests and then, hopefully, adoption. Charette said the hens should easily find a home, but finding owners for loud, territorial roosters can be a challenge.
"Roosters are hard to place," Charette said.
(MassLive.com - May 15, 2015)
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