Onetime cockfighting suspect sues over killed chickens

A Livermore rancher once accused of taking part in a cockfighting ring has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Alameda County, crying fowl over the seizure and destruction of more than 300 of his chickens. Mark Jaegel Sr., 54, was among seven people arrested in January 2008 by Alameda County sheriff’s deputies for an alleged cockfight at a ranch at 4400 North Livermore Road in unincorporated Livermore. Deputies later searched Jaegel’s home on Tesla Road and confiscated 344 fighting cocks and hens. The sheriff’s office obtained an order by Judge Hugh Walker of Alameda County Superior Court to destroy all the chickens after some had been found to be afflicted with Marek’s Disease, a contagion that causes internal lesions in birds. But Jaegel said the disease is treatable and that deputies had no right to kill his feathered friends. “Plaintiff was never notified of any intent to destroy his chickens nor was he charged or convicted of any offense that would have provided a lawful basis for the destruction of his animals,” said Jaegel’s suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Oakland...more