Cockfighting roosters: Rescued birds going to rehabilitation and PTSD treatment

Those roosters rescued in New York City have just arrived at VINE Sanctuary here in Springfield.

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Cockfighting Roosters: Rescued Birds Going to Rehabilitation and PTSD Treatment By Catherine Arnold Feb 23, 2016 05:51 PM EST Rooster More than a dozen roosters were recently rescued from a cockfighting ring, and now they're being rehabilitated in Vermont. (Photo : Flickr: David Goehring) The New York City-based non-profit avian rehabilitation center Wild Bird Fund took in some cockfighting roosters in December when police busted the individuals involved in the ring. Until this week, the organization has been taking care of 14 of the 30 birds involved, although one bird died from health complications. After more than 1,000 sea turtles were cold-stunned off North Carolina in recent weeks, some of them are recovering at aquariums in the Carolinas, including Ripley's in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Sea Turtles Recover at Aquariums After Ocean Temperature Drop Researchers from Iowa State University have given a cat named Vincent new hope of leading a normal life with the help of unique prosthetics. High Tech Prosthetic Legs Help Vincent the Cat Jump Again [VIDEO] Industrialization and farming concerns are forcing Borneo orangutans from their natural habitats and closer to human populations which leaves them increasingly vulnerable to poachers. In response, rehabilitation organizations like International Animal Rescue (IAR) are racing agaisnt the clock to rescue and care for sick orangutans that have nowhere else to turn. Endangered Borneo Orangutans Find Relief at Indonesia's International Animal Rescue [INTERVIEW and VIDEO] Orangutans and other rare species on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo are endanagered, in large part due to commercial plam oil cultivation. In the last decade alone, orangutan populations have declined by 50 percent as the result of habitat loss and smoke-related deaths. Oil Palm and Orangutans: Habitat Destruction Threatens Native Populations Having met their end after 1994 genocide, lions are being re-introduced to a Rwandan national park. Lions: Re-introduced to Rwandan national park This week, the roosters were driven to the VINE Sanctuary in Springfield, Vermont. It is an animal refuge. These birds have needed a period of adjustment from their former tough-living life. Like fighting dogs, such birds are known to be aggressive at first, because they've been trained to have a strong fight-or-flight response and to attack other animals or anything that comes at them. "At first they were aggressive with their human handlers, flying out of the cage in attack mode, but they have settled in rather well now," said Rita McMahon, Wild Bird Fund co-founder and director, in a CBS News report. "We have volunteers hold them every day to calm them and get them used to people." Before heading off to Vermont, they were tested for disease including Salmonella. Clearance allowed them to be taken across state lines to the other refuge. They'll receive further rehabilitation there. If the cocks catch a glimpse of other roosters, they stamp their feet and spread their wings, "spurs first, ready to attack," as McMahon noted in the report. In past years, fighting roosters were often euthanized because they were considered unsavable. In 2002, Pattrice Jones of VINE Sanctuary used her graduate education in psychology in combination with awareness of rooster behavior to build a rehab program for cockfighting birds. These days, the method she pioneered is being used in animal sanctuaries around the country. It combines PTSD treatments with behavioral therapy and social learning, noted the CBS report.