OAKLAND — When police showed up at a home on the 2000 block of 102nd Avenue, the resident inside reportedly insisted he was a simple chicken farmer who raised hens and roosters for eggs and meat, court records show.
But police say they seized ample evidence to the contrary — scissors to remove the birds’ spurs, metal gaffes and protective gear for fights, number labels, and performance-enhancing drugs, like testosterone, commonly administered to make the roosters more aggressive. Furthermore, animal control staffers on sight determined the caged hens there were being used to breed, not to feed, according to police.
On Aug. 27, prosecutors charged the resident, 65-year-old Eduardo Ochoa Vega, with a felony count of cruelly wounding an animal and four misdemeanors related to the possession