Cherry Hill man charged with raising fighting gamecocks

A Cherry Hill man remained in jail yesterday afternoon after a weekend raid of his Gloucester County property uncovered 200 roosters that officials said were bred for a cockfighting operation in the Philippines.

The New Jersey SPCA on Saturday charged Julius Caesar Riel, 55, with 422 counts of animal cruelty. The roosters, discovered on farmland on the 1300 block of Coles Mills Road in Williamstown, were euthanized, authorities said.

While there is no evidence that Riel staged cock fights, it is illegal in New Jersey to own animals used for fighting, said SPCA spokesman Matt Stanton.

Riel, whose address is listed on the 200 block of Drake Road in Cherry Hill, was being held yesterday in the Gloucester County Jail on $150,000 bail.

He used the property as a breeding farm for the fighting roosters, according to the SPCA. Authorities also found 10 dogs, most of them feeble, three goats, and 129 hens on the land.

Riel faces criminal and civil charges, including failure to provide sustenance for the goats and eight dogs.

A veterinarian ordered one goat to be euthanized. The dogs and the other goats were taken to the Gloucester County Shelter. The hens remain on the property.

An anonymous tip alerted authorities. Saturday's raid, which included the Gloucester County Animal Control Office and Office of Emergency Management, came after weeks of surveillance by SPCA authorities, officials said.

It's unclear how long Riel had allegedly been raising fighting roosters or been a part of the overseas operation, which authorities say extended to several states. Cock fighting is popular in the Philippines.

Several caretakers at the Coles Mills Road property were not charged.