SHARK and Animal Wellness Action Uncover Fighting Pits and Staged Animal Combat in Oklahoma and Texas, But Law Enforcement Fails to Make Arrests

Tulsa, OK — Today, Animal Wellness Action and SHARK (Showing Animals Respect and Kindness) released investigative footage of two cockfights that occurred on both sides of the Red River—one in Murray County, Okla., and one in Martin County, Texas. In both cases, investigators with Animal Wellness Action and SHARK documented fights in real time and shared precise details of the crimes with law enforcement. The fights were disbanded in Sulfur, Okla., and Stanton, Texas, but law enforcement made no arrests. In Murray County, cockfighters were even allowed a few days later to disassemble the fighting arena and cart away the entire crime scene.

For access to the investigative footage, please email: [email protected].

Meanwhile, in contrasting news, bills promoted by pro-cockfighting legislators — particularly HB 1313 by Rep. J.J. Humphreys, R-Lane, and SB 1111 by Senator Tom Woods, R-Adair County — met with defeat or died without action at the Oklahoma capitol.

“While we are pleased that lawmakers are turning back the political efforts of cockfighters continue to gut state law, law enforcement agents in some jurisdictions are looking the other way when crimes occur and the cockfighters are engaging in their organized criminal activity without consequence,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy. “Even when our investigative teams tee up an enforcement action, we are seeing insufficient responses from law enforcement on the ground and the criminals are getting away without even a slap on the wrist. These are unacceptable outcomes.”

“We did the hard work of investigating, uncovering, and documented these animal cruelty crimes, and then local law enforcement responded with indifference and incomplete actions,” said Steve Hindi, president and founder of SHARK. “We want to help law enforcement do their important work, but they’ve got to do their fair share.” Hindi was on the ground at Murray County while the fights were occurring.

“I’ve been to cockfighting pits across Oklahoma, and I can attest that illegal cockfighting activities are rampant in my home state,” said Kevin Chambers, Oklahoma state director of Animal Wellness Action. “We know where the pits are and we have a law that can be exercised, but we are just not getting sufficient action from our law enforcement community.”

In contrasting news, the latest efforts by cockfighting syndicates to gut the Oklahoma state law establishing strong penalties for the crime of cockfighting again met with defeat. Last Tuesday, with the Oklahoma Senate Public Safety Committee choosing not to pass SB 1111 out of committee. And the relevant House committees chose not to act on any cockfighting bills in that chamber, and that means that HB 113 is dead for the year. Since 2002, pro-cockfighting lawmakers have introduced more than a hundred bills to unwind the voter-approved law. Every one of them has met with defeat.

Cockfighting also is a felony at the federal level, with severe penalties enacted overwhelmingly by Congress in 2007. There are yet more efforts at the federal level to strengthen an already robust federal anti-animal fighting law.

The Oklahoma bill, authored by State Senator Tom Woods, R-Adair County, would have drastically weakened Oklahoma’s anti-cockfighting law by reducing the penalty for organizing or participating in cockfighting from a felony to a misdemeanor, removed the term of imprisonment, and reduced the fine to $500 from up to $25,000 for first-time offenders.

“Senator Woods’ bill was a blatant attempt to overturn the vote of the people,” said Chambers. “I am embarrassed that a year after we exposed a cockfighting arena in Adair County, this lawmaker is giving comfort to these criminals.”

A second bill, HB 1313 by State Representative Justin Humphrey (R), would reduce cockfighting to a misdemeanor, and while technically still alive, it is almost certainly not going to progress in its current form.

“Oklahomans want cockfighting to be illegal, they want felony-level penalties for this malice, and they want the law actively enforced in every county,” said Pacelle.

According to a Sooner Survey released in late March 2024, 87 percent of Oklahomans favor a ban on cockfighting.

“Even in the Southeast (86%) and Southwest (80%), we have uber-majorities wanting cockfighting to be illegal. In fact, in each of the five congressional districts in Oklahoma, at least 83% want cockfighting to be illegal and in no instance does support for legality exceed 12%,” said Pat McFerron, president of Cole Hargrave Snodgrass & Associates and architect of the Sooner Survey. The survey was the first independent poll to examine attitudes toward cockfighting in the state in years.