Will Delaware bust cockpit exposed at SHARK/AWA media conference?

(Beth Clifton collage)

Action in the land of the Fighting Blue Hens’ Chickens

FELTON,  Delaware––Is a major cockfighting bust imminent in Delaware,  a state which has apparently not had a cockfighting raid since January 25,  2006?

ANIMALS 24-7 understands the Delaware State Police on May 16,  2023 executed at least one search warrant at a site discovered and reported by Showing Animals Respect & Kindness,  exposed at a joint media conference hosted by Animal Wellness Action via Zoom on May 17,  2023.

Very little further information about the Delaware State Police investigation has been disclosed.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Three Cedars Boarding Farm

“Operating on a tip,”  Showing Animals Respect & Kindness [SHARK] founder Steve Hindi told the May 17,  2023 Zoom media conference,   “SHARK confirmed an active,  illegal cockfight at 3133 Sandtown Road, Felton, Delaware on Saturday,  May 6,  2023,”

Hindi illustrated his remarks with highly detailed drone video,  mentioning the help of the Humane Farming Association in investigating cockfights.

The video showed thirty to forty cars parked around a sheet-metal-clad barn on the property of Three Cedars Boarding Farm,  an apparent racehorse breeding and training facility that also accommodates a business called Three Cedars Pulse Therapy & Wellness.

Men,  women,  and teenagers were shown unloading live gamecocks from vehicles,  preparing the gamecocks to fight,  taking them inside,  and bringing dead and dying gamecocks out of the building.

Cockfighting suspects flee the scene.
(Showing Animals Respect and Kindness drone footage)

One Delaware Animal Services officer responded

Some participants made clumsy efforts to kill injured roosters before tossing them into the scoop of a front-end loader.  Others did not,  with still living birds shown flapping their wings in the “dead” pile.

Upon confirming the alleged cockfight in progress,  Showing Animals Respect & Kindness called state and local law enforcement.

Eventually,  Hindi said,  “A single vehicle,  with a single Delaware Animal Services officer,  arrived at the property.”

As the Delaware Animal Services officer approached the building housing the alleged cockfight,  the drone video showed,  dozens of people rushed out the back door,  some of them carrying gamecocks,  running toward their vehicles and speeding away.

Some of them actually passed the Delaware Animal Services vehicle on their way off the premises.  Others streamed out other exits.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Where were the cops?

Hindi learned later,  he told ANIMALS 24-7,  that the unarmed Delaware Animal Services officer had expected state police backup to arrive,  in force,  but the backup never came.

“A state police spokesperson said troopers were responding to a shooting nearby,”  reported Hannah Edelstein of the Delaware News Journal in Wilmington on May 18,  2023,  “and therefore could not accompany Animal Services to the cockfighting scene.  The case has been given to the Delaware Animal Response unit within the Office of Animal Welfare,”  Edelstein said.

“A Delaware Office of Animal Welfare spokesperson said on Wednesday that the incident is still under investigation,  and therefore the department cannot provide any more information,”  Edelstein added.

Andrea Aligo-Keen.

Keen interest in the proceedings

Continued Hindi,  “Public records indicate the owner of 3133 Sandtown Road is Andrea Keen,  also known as Andrea Aligo-Keen.  Mrs. Keen,  43 years old,  has been employed by the Delaware Department of Education since January 2022,  as an instructional support technician.  She apparently works with children.  Given the nature of the criminal activities on her property,  this is very concerning.

“Prior to her job at the Department of Education,”  Hindi said,  “Mrs Keen worked at the Delaware Division of Public Health as a clinic manager.  The Delaware Division of Health includes, ironically,  Delaware Animal Services.”

Andrea Aligo-Keen was tentatively identified speaking to the Delaware Animal Services officer who visited the property during the alleged cockfight.

Billy Keen.
(Delaware Department of Transportation photo.)

Husband also Keenly interested

“Andrea Keen’s husband is Billy Charles Keen,  Jr.,”  Hindi added.  “Mr. Keen is 51 years old.  He works for the State of Delaware as a Department of Transportation maintenance area supervisor.  Mr. Keen was not at the illegal cockfight on May 6,  2023,   as he was reportedly with his daughter at an equine event.  Nevertheless,  our information is that Mr. Keen is intimately involved in the illegal cockfighting operation,”  Hindi told the May 17,  2023 Zoom media conference.

The most recently published Delaware state salaries for Andrea Aligo-Keen and Billy Charles Keen,  $71,849 and $55,566 in 2022,  respectively,  for a combined income of $127,415.

This would be low for a family participating in equestrian activities to the extent that Facebook documents.  The Keen family also keeps and exhibits cattle and goats.

The Three Cedars Boarding Farm facilities appear to include multiple barns in addition to the scene of the alleged cockfight,  many other outbuildings,  two round pens,  and a quarter-mile track.

Wayne Pacelle.
(Facebook photo)

“Illegal gambling is the point of cockfighting”

            Introducing the Zoom media conference,  Animal Wellness Action president Wayne Pacelle reminded the participating journalists that,  “Cockfighting is illegal throughout the United States, including U.S. territories,  and is illegal under federal law.

“Holding a cockfight in Delaware is a felony,  as is spectating at a cockfight.  Possessing a fighting rooster or cockfighting paraphernalia is a felony.  Having children at a cockfight is also a felony according to federal law,”  Pacelle said.

“Illegal gambling is the point of cockfighting,  and tax evasion is inevitable.  Besides the deadly and gross animal cruelty,  cockfighting is connected to other crimes,  including illegal drug sales and use,  weapons offenses,  and human trafficking,  often connected to gang and cartel activities.

Thomas Pool, DVM.

Public health risk

Further,  emphasized Pacelle,  “Cockfighting poses a public health risk due to the birds being brought to various places,  including across state lines, absent the usual safety precautions practiced by commercial poultry operations.  Avian flu,  Newcastle disease and various other zoonotic diseases can be passed from traveling fighting birds via humans,  some of whom may work in poultry operations,  which can then threaten the human food supply.”

These points were reiterated by Animal Wellness Action senior veterinarian Thomas Pool,  a former commander of the U.S. Army Veterinary Command.

Both the Showing Animals Respect & Kindness drone video and Google Earth show large commercial poultry barns surrounding the scene of the alleged cockfight.

Fighting Blue Hens

Delaware,  with more than 700 farmers raising poultry for human consumption,  produces more than 200 million “broiler” birds per year.  The Delaware Department of Agriculture as recently as May 11,  2023 urged farmers to take precautions against high pathogenic avian influenza,  after cases were found in black vultures,  who often feed on poultry carcasses.

Both the commercial poultry industry and cockfighting,  however,  have as deep roots and as long a history in Delaware as in any U.S. state,  despite Delaware having been among the first states to try to eradicate cockfighting on behalf of public morality.

Cockfighting had already been illegal in Delaware for 75 years when the University of Delaware intercollegiate athletic teams became the Fighting Blue Hens in 1911.

State bird

Cockfighting had been illegal in Delaware for 103 years when the Delaware General Assembly made the Blue Hen the state bird.

Yet well-connected people in Delaware had already made cockfighting the unofficial state pastime at least 60 years before it was made illegal in 1836.

Cockfighter John Caldwell,  of Kent County,  was among the Delaware company commanders during the American Revolution.  Caldwell’s fighting birds purportedly gave his troops the nickname  “The Blue Hen’s Chickens,”  a moniker eventually adopted by the entire eight-company Delaware regiment headed by Colonel John Haslett.

The “Blue Hen’s Chickens” fought with distinction in the battles for Long Island and White Plains in New York,  and Trenton and Princeton,  New Jersey.

The day after election day in Delaware is a state holiday declared in 1812,  called Return Day.  Return Day is traditionally celebrated with cockfights and chicken dinners,  reported Delaware Journalism Collaborative member Ken Mammarella on November 4,  2022.

(Beth Clifton collage)

The 2006 bust

Whether Delaware has not had a reported cockfighting raid since January 2006 reflects successful law enforcement or law enforcement indifference is a judgement call.

Hindi,  however,  has told ANIMALS 24-7 that Showing Animals Respect & Kindness has received tips about other alleged Delaware cockpits.

The January 2006 cockfighting bust,  according to Terri Sanginiti of the Wilmington News-Journal,   came about almost by accident,  after Delaware SPCA agent Jerome Harris,  answering an unrelated call,  spotted the outdoor cockfight in the yard of Rigoberto Perez,  70,  a poultry worker who emigrated to Delaware from Cuba in 1962.

Beth & Merritt Clifton

A second Delaware SPCA agent,  Gerry Linkerhof,  helped Harris to impound 13 gamecocks and a variety of cockfighting paraphernalia.

Thirty-five to forty cockfighters and spectators reportedly fled in vehicles bearing license plates from Virginia, Maryland,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  and the District of Columbia,  Caldwell said.

Perez,  who denied having been involved in arranging the cockfight,  died from injuries suffered in a 2018 car crash.

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