TULSA, Okla. – Animal Wellness Action is calling on federal, state and Cherokee Nation law enforcement authorities to bring criminal charges against the top officials of the Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission (OGC) and a cockfight pit owner following damning video evidence showing their participation in two illegal cockfighting events in McIntosh County in June 2025.
Animal Wellness Action also sent a letter to Governor Kevin Stitt urging him to direct the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to investigate and to pursue criminal charges. The letter outlines a long history of criminal activity by the leaders of the OGC, including illegal political fundraising, underground cockfighting operations, and a campaign to normalize animal cruelty by cloaking it in the imagery of traditional Oklahoma ranching culture. The two men donated to Governor Stitt’s re-election campaign and convinced him to appear in a video to address cockfighters at a gathering in McAlester more than a year ago.

“These men committed felony-level crimes, and we’ve got the evidence on tape,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy. “They should be arrested for their crimes. That’s the way our criminal justice system works. No one is above the law.”
“Our investigations have confirmed what we’ve told state leaders for the past three years: they are fraternizing with hardened cockfighters who have raised money by illicit means to inject money into Oklahoma politics,” added Kevin Chambers, Oklahoma state director for Animal Wellness Action. “Anthony Devore and Blake Pearce, the top officials of the OGC, are not just violating the laws against animal fighting — they are leading a criminal conspiracy to undermine Oklahoma’s anti-cruelty statutes and campaign finance laws.”
Undercover video footage shows Devore entering birds into a six-cock derby while Pearce attended an illegal fight at the same McIntosh County cockfight pit earlier in the month. The pit is on Cherokee Nation tribal land, and both fighting derbies occurred in violation of federal, state, and tribal law.
In the letter to Governor Stitt, Chambers noted that “It should be no surprise that these people (OGC), who deceived you and others and who have repeatedly demonstrated contempt for the rule of law, have been violating the state’s campaign finance rules since the inception of the OGC PAC.”
The letter also references a formal complaint to the Oklahoma Ethics Commission alleging that the OGC PAC accepted illegal donations, failed to disclose required donor information, and violated campaign contribution limits—actions that Pacelle describes as a calculated “strategy of deception.”
Both officials caught on video at the cockfights have large fighting rooster operations in Oklahoma. Blake Pearce and his father were interviewed by BNTV, a Philippine YouTube channel, in 2023 wherein they discussed shipping fighting roosters to the Philippines. Shipping roosters for use in cockfighting is a federal crime. Anthony Devore owns HD Farms in Bryan County where he raises hundreds of varieties of gamecocks specifically used in cockfighting. We’ve also documented his illegal advertising of cockfighting implements.
“This is organized crime dressed up as civic engagement,” said Pacelle. “It’s time for state and federal authorities, as well as tribal governments whose sovereign lands have been exploited for these crimes, to hold them accountable.”