JEFFERSONVILLE, KY — Four years after police raided and shut down a Montgomery County cockfighting operation, the arena is back in business and under new ownershipj, reports The Lexington Herald-Leader in its Saturday edition.

What was once called Spring Brook Farm is now the Bayou Springs Club near Jeffersonville, about 7 miles southeast of Mount Sterling. In late May, the 700-seat arena hosted what a schedule of events billed as the "World Championship."

Investigators for the Humane Society of the United States each paid a $20 admission fee to the event. Once inside, they secretly recorded video of specially bred roosters fighting each other inside rings while dozens of spectators watched.

Cockfighting is illegal in all 50 states and is a felony offense in 39. Animal rights activists contend that Kentucky's second-degree animal-cruelty law makes cockfighting a misdemeanor punishable by up to 12 months in jail and $500 fine, but some have interpreted it differently.

In cockfights, the roosters sometimes fight with sharp knives or with spurs that look like curved ice picks, called gaffs, fastened to their legs; the weapons are used to scratch, cut, maim and kill their opponents.

The Humane Society is gathering information to seek legislation that would make cockfighting a felony offense in Kentucky, reports The Lexington Herald-Leader.

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