The federal agents had a warrant. They were looking for evidence of cockfighting. Carrano was made to sit in his kitchen while they searched the premises. There was no evidence because, well, Mr. Carrano isn't a cockfighter. Unfortunately, that didn't protect his birds. Carrano's birds are housed some 300 feet from his driveway. According to neighbors and others who witnessed their actions, the people from ASPCA put the birds in boxes, dropped them on the ground, tossed them around, and rolled them to their trucks, all of which is very stressful for the birds that have been raised from eggs on the property. An ASPCA truck also drove off and broke the end of his driveway as it was leaving.According to Mr. Carrano, he had five or six hens who were sitting on large nests of eggs getting ready to hatch. The agents and ASPCA personnel broke all of the eggs so they couldn't produce new chicks. They took all 70 of his hens and all of his roosters. These were birds that Carrano had bred and raised himself. He interacted with each bird several times per day and could identify each one on sight. As Mr. Carrano explained, he and his wife don't have any children and he put all of himself into caring for his birds. He had some birds with bloodlines dating back to the 1890s and one special hen he had kept for 16 years.
Despite seizing his birds, after four months there were still no charges in the case. Friends rallied around Carrano and a legal expense fund was set up to help him. The ASPCA was pressuring Carrano to relinquish his ownership rights to the birds, asking him four times to give them up.Unable to charge him with cockfighting, the government finally brought one count against Carrano: conspiracy to train and then sell his roosters to cockfighters.