Yamil Clavero Rodriguez Arrested in the Keys For Training Cock-Fighting Roosters

via Monroe County Sheriff's Office

The Rockland Key yard where Rodriguez allegedly trained roosters to fight.

​Ever wonder where those razor-clawing, beak-breaking, brutally mistreated roosters who duke it out in illegal cockfighting rings across South Florida come from? Yeah, neither had Riptide, though in hindsight it makes sense that fighting birds don't just hatch from the egg with a metal spur tied to their leg and a violent deathwish.

Turns out that guys like Yamil Clavero Rodriguez breed and train the birds for the bloodsport. Or so says the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, which busted Rodriguez's cock-fighting training ring on Rockland Key yesterday.

Around 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, Monroe Sheriffs got a tip that cockfighting was happening inside a sprawling property on Rockland Key.

When two deputies crept up to the yard, they saw roosters tied up with their wattles and combs cut off (as cockfighting birds usually are), the Sheriff's Office says.

via Monroe County Sheriff's Office

Yamil Clavero Rodriguez

​The owner, 39-year-old Rodriguez, freaked out when he saw the police and yelled: "The cops are here, the cops are here!"

Deputies later found 64 roosters, a 12-foot fighting ring, detachable talons and nutritional supplements for the birds. Rodriguez told police he was "training the birds to fight" and planned to ship them to Puerto Rico, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Rodriguez faces one felony count of possessing or selling an animal used to fight.

Here's the police report with more details on the bust:

Yamil Rodriguez Request

Follow Miami New Times on Facebook and Twitter @MiamiNewTimes.