Law enforcement leaders, especially in agricultural states with first-generation workers sometimes hailing from nations where animal fighting is widespread, understand that animal fighting spawns a crime wave and a disease threat, especially to poultry industries
BOISE, Idaho — Animal Wellness Action today applauded major Idaho law enforcement organizations for urging Congress to strengthen federal laws against staged animal fighting, which fuel criminal activity in Idaho and across the nation.
The Idaho Sheriffs’ Association and the Idaho Prosecuting Attorneys Association—law enforcement leaders representing all 44 counties in the state—have endorsed the Fighting Inhumane Gambling and High-Risk Trafficking (FIGHT) Act, H.R. 3946/S. 1454. The Idaho Sheriffs’ Association also endorsed two complementary measures: the No Flight, No Fight Act, H.R. 7371, and the Animal Cruelty Enforcement (ACE) Act, H.R. 1477.
The measures would provide law enforcement with additional tools to dismantle organized animal fighting operations:
- The FIGHT Act would strengthen federal anti-animal fighting laws by banning in-person and on-line gambling on animal fights, restricting the shipment of mature roosters through the U.S. mail, allowing seizure of fighting pits after a perpetrator is criminally convicted, and allowing very tailored citizen suits to win federal court orders to shut down a dogfighting or cockfighting complex.
- The No Flight, No Fight Act would prohibit the air transport of adult roosters commonly trafficked for cockfighting ventures.
- The ACE Act would establish a dedicated section within the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute felony animal cruelty crimes.
Despite being illegal in all 50 states, animal fighting remains a major national problem. Federal and state authorities continue to uncover cockfighting pits, dogfighting operations, trafficking of fighting animals, and criminal networks tied to narcotics, firearms, money laundering, and other serious offenses.
Idaho law enforcement leaders say the threat is especially serious in agricultural states, where cockfighting can expose poultry flocks to dangerous diseases and create broader biosecurity risks.
In a letter to Congress, Jeff A. Lavey, executive director of the Idaho Sheriffs’ Association, warned that “Cockfighting continues to be a serious concern for rural communities and agricultural states like Idaho.” He added that “the spread of cockfighting into rural states puts agriculture and animal health at risk and often involves organized gambling and other criminal activity.”
“Cockfighting and dogfighting operations are the front end of a crime wave in our communities, with animal cruelty entangled with illegal gambling, tax evasion, money laundering, drug trafficking, and other illicit activity,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action. “The unified support is a signal to all other political leaders in Idaho that it’s time to fortify our national policies to pull up animal fighting at the root.”
Animal-welfare leaders in the state also welcomed the endorsement from Idaho law enforcement officials, noting that cockfighting and dogfighting pose serious threats to animal welfare as well as public safety.
“Idahoans despise dogfighting and cockfighting, and our elected law enforcement leaders across our state have it exactly right in calling on Congress to strengthen the federal anti-fighting law,” said Jeff Rosenthal, DVM, the president and CEO of the Idaho Humane Society. “We don’t want the savagery of dogfighting or the contagion of cockfighting in our state.”
Animal Wellness Action said passage of the FIGHT Act, the No Flight, No Fight Act, and the ACE Act would strengthen enforcement of federal anti-animal fighting laws and provide law enforcement agencies with additional tools to dismantle these criminal enterprises.