{"id":378351,"date":"2026-07-19T02:01:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T02:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/378351\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T02:01:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T02:01:34","slug":"nearly-200-birds-seized-east-texas-man-arrested-in-raid-on-alleged-cockfighting-ring-east-of-dallas-the-spca-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/378351\/","title":{"rendered":"Nearly 200 birds seized, East Texas man arrested in raid on alleged cockfighting ring east of Dallas, the SPCA says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Authorities raided an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/texas\/tag\/cockfighting\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">alleged cockfighting operation<\/a> in Van Zandt County, about 70 miles east of Dallas, on Thursday, arresting an East Texas man and seizing nearly 200 birds, the SPCA of Texas said.<\/p>\n<p>Justin Blake Hart of Grand Saline has been charged with cockfighting, a state jail felony, according to the SPCA and the Van Zandt County Sheriff&#8217;s Office.<\/p>\n<p>Of the birds seized, officials said 174 were roosters, and seven were hens. Authorities also took possession of $55,000 in cash, cockfighting paraphernalia, specialized bird\u2011transport equipment, vehicles and trailers, and electronic devices.<\/p>\n<p>The SPCA called cockfighting a &#8220;violent blood sport&#8221; using birds conditioned to fight, frequently with &#8220;knives or gaffs attached to their legs.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/arrested.jpg#.jpeg\" alt=\"arrested.jpg \" height=\"620\" width=\"620\" class=\" lazyload\"  loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                  Justin Blake Hart of Grand Saline<\/p>\n<p>                SPCA of Texas<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Cockfighting is a cruel and illegal activity that&#8217;s often connected to organized crime and other criminal activity that threatens the safety of our communities,&#8221; said Courtney Burns, chief investigator of the SPCA of Texas&#8217; Animal Cruelty Investigations Unit.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;These investigations can take months of coordination, and we&#8217;re thankful for the partnership of the Van Zandt County Sheriff&#8217;s Office,&#8221; Burns said. &#8220;By working together, we are able to uncover illegal bird fighting operations and hold those responsible for this cruelty accountable under the law.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The birds were taken to the SPCA of Texas&#8217; Russell E. Dealey Animal Rescue Center in Dallas for veterinary care pending legal proceedings, the SPCA said.<\/p>\n<p>A civil custody hearing is set for July 22 before Judge Wade McMillan, justice of the peace for Precinct 2 in Canton.<\/p>\n<p>According to the SPCA, cockfighting is illegal in all 50 states.<\/p>\n<p>In Texas, causing birds to fight or using property for cockfighting is a state jail felony punishable by up to two years in jail and a $10,000 fine. Possessing, manufacturing, or selling cockfighting paraphernalia \u2013 as well as owning or training roosters for fighting \u2014 is a Class A misdemeanor. Attending a cockfight is a Class C misdemeanor.<\/p>\n<p>The criminal investigation is continuing, authorities said.<\/p>\n<p>CBS News Texas will provide updates as more information becomes available.<\/p>\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Authorities raided an alleged cockfighting operation in Van Zandt County, about 70 miles east of Dallas, on Thursday,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[43810,294,430,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-378351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-cockfighting","tag-crime","tag-north-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}