Animal Fighting is the Pits

The Cruelty and Criminal Activity Behind Dogfighting and Cockfighting

Orchestrated fighting of dogs and roosters is one of the most senseless forms of animal cruelty there is. No animal should be subjected to the threat of grievous injury and death merely for the sake of human entertainment.

Dogs suffer immensely throughout their shortened lives, treated as revenue-generating implements and not as the emotionally complex, sensitive and loving creatures they are. Kept on chains. Bred and trained to be more aggressive. Survivors fight again and again until they are spent and killed, often inhumanely. Others die in the contests without any medical comfort. Females are bred again and again, with their puppies sent forward through this dynastic torment so long as they prove to be winners. Many times, dogfighters will kidnap other dogs and use them as fighting bait for their intended combatants.

Cockfighting is one of the biggest underground animal-use industries in the United States, with fighting birds raised on an agricultural scale. There are millions of fighting birds in the U.S., thousands of cockfighting “farms,” and perhaps hundreds of pits and arenas, with U.S.-based cockfighters acting as the breeding ground for the global industry. In cockfights, handlers attach sharp knives or curved icepicks (called “gaffs”) to roosters’ legs, weapons intended to enhance the bloodletting and maim or kill the birds conscripted into the pit to fight. Animal fighting is one of the most gruesome forms of animal exploitation, with the animals hacked up for the mere pleasure and wagering by handlers and spectators. Cockfighting is a global enterprise, conducted from Mexico to Manilla.

The FIGHT Act: Strengthening Federal Animal Fighting Laws

The inattention to dogfighting and cockfighting must end, and that’s exactly why we’ve worked with federal lawmakers to introduce the Fighting Inhumane Gambling and High-Risk Trafficking (FIGHT) Act to halt the transport of mature roosters through the U.S. mail; ban simulcasting and gambling on animal fights in the United States, no matter where the fights and the broadcast signals originate; enhance forfeiture provisions to include real property used in the commission of an animal fighting crime; and create a citizen suit provision to allow private right of action against illegal animal fighters and ease the resource burden on federal agencies.

Learn About Our Animal Fighting is the Pits Campaign