ATHENS, TX — Acting on a tip from Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK), the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office raided a major cockfighting operation near Athens on Sunday, July 13th. Authorities disrupted an illegal cockfighting event attended by an estimated 200–300 people, many of whom fled the scene on foot through nearby woods. Law enforcement seized approximately 25 vehicles and impounded around 100 roosters, which are now in need of placement with animal rescue organizations.
The bust comes amid an ongoing investigative effort by Animal Wellness Action and SHARK targeting cockfighting networks across Texas and Oklahoma. The two groups have uncovered and infiltrated a dozen fighting pits spanning counties, including Dallas, Ellis, Hunt, Titus, Kaufman, and Martin in Texas in recent weeks. On July 4, the organizations provided undercover video of a large cockfighting arena and event near Mt. Pleasant in Titus County, which led to the arrest of Tim Thompson, a cockfighting kingpin in northeast Texas. In March, evidence provided by the organizations led to the arrest of 21 cockfighters at a cockfighting pit in Hunt County.
“This cockfighting pit in Henderson County is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Steve Hindi, president of SHARK. “It’s part of a sprawling, interstate animal fighting syndicate that traffics birds domestically and internationally.”
“We want to thank the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office for taking immediate action to stop this barbaric animal cruelty in their county,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action. “The cockfighting corridor that stretches from Tulsa to Dallas is rife with cockfighting pits and illicit gamefowl operations. We encourage all law enforcement in this corridor to act with the urgency that the Henderson County Sheriff did to stamp out these crimes.”
Their investigation has also reached deep into Oklahoma, where undercover operatives recently filmed Anthony Devore and Blake Pearce—co-founders of the United States Gamefowl Commission — a front group for cockfighters, actively participating in illegal cockfights in McIntosh County.
The two men also founded the Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission and have assisted the Texas Gamefowl Breeders Association (TGBA). Both men and organizations have publicly advocated for weakening anti-cockfighting laws in Oklahoma and Texas but also claimed that they do not engage in cockfighting or any other criminal activities. Our investigators caught both men participating in the cockfighting pit. Neither man has been arrested yet, but the organizations have demanded that arrests be made for their brazen violations of the law. The Oklahoma Ethics Commission announced this week that they are investigating the Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission.
Animal Wellness Action, SHARK, and the Center for a Humane Economy are now pushing Congress to pass the Fighting Inhumane Gambling and High-Risk Trafficking (FIGHT) Act (HR 3946 and SB 1454) to bolster federal enforcement against animal fighting. The measure is supported by the National Sheriff’s Association, the Sheriffs’ Association of Texas and dozens of county sheriffs throughout the state.
U.S. Representatives from Texas who cosponsored the newly introduced FIGHT Act are Lloyd Doggett, D-37; Lance Gooden, R-5; and Troy Nehls, R-22. Texas’s senior Senator, Republican John Cornyn, is a cosponsor of the Senate bill led by Cory Booker, D-N.J., and John Kennedy, R-La. The House bill is led by Reps. Don Bacon, R-Neb., and Andrea Salinas, D-Oregon.