Oklahoma
We strive to advance protections for wildlife and all animals in Oklahoma
What We Do
We work in Oklahoma to stop extreme forms of animal cruelty and mistreatment of domesticated and wild animals. We promote stronger anti-cruelty policies at the local and state level, along with federal policies that affect Oklahoma. We work to enforce the laws in place and to engage the public in enacting laws and helping promote their enforcement.
OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
- Defeating all efforts by the cockfighting community to weaken the state’s voter-approved law to make all spectacles of animal fighting a felony in the Sooner State.
- Conducting investigations of illegal cockfighting operations, with some of our findings producing arrests of cockfighters in our state and the tearing down of their fighting pits.
- Paying out a reward for the apprehension of a man who savagely beat a small dog to death in Oklahoma City.
- Passing the federal Big Cat Public Safety Act to halt the trade in big cats as pets and the use of lion cubs and other juvenile cats for commercial cub petting.
- Passing the FDA Modernization 2.0 to promote the use of alternatives to animal testing for drug testing in Oklahoma research and testing facilities.
Kevin Chambers brings decades of global and local business, government, and animal advocacy experience to Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy. A former U.S. diplomat and global business expert, Chambers grew up in Oklahoma but has lived and worked around the world. He has been a volunteer cruelty investigator and animal advocate for decades. He was a key advocate in the effort to pass a ballot measure to outlaw cockfighting in Oklahoma in 2002 and has gotten behind the scenes and witnessed the barbaric features of cockfighting firsthand.
Want to learn more or get involved with Animal Wellness Action in Oklahoma? Email: kevin@animalwellnessaction.org
Thomas Pool, MPH, DVM, earned his master’s in public health (tropical medicine) degree from Harvard University and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Oklahoma State University. He is a 30-year diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine. Upon retirement as a full colonel from the Army, Dr. Pool served as the Territorial Veterinarian for Guam for 17 years. He continues to serve as adjunct professor for the University of Guam and the University of Wyoming School of Pharmacy.
Our ongoing work
- Working through our political action committee — Animal Wellness Action-Oklahoma PAC — to elect state lawmakers and sheriffs who work to advance or enforce anti-cruelty laws. In June 2024, we are backing Carter County Sheriff Chris Bryant precisely because he has been targeted by a network of illegal cockfighters solely because this lawman and his deputies are enforcing the state’s voter-approved anti-animal-fighting law.
- Operating an animal cruelty tip line and rewards program that the public can use to report acts of cruelty such as cockfighting, dog fighting, and other animal abuse.
- Promoting an understanding of mountain lions and black bears in Oklahoma, who are struggling to claim just a tiny portion of their former habitats in Oklahoma and who deliver ecological services of great value to the state.
- Opposing so-called “canned hunts” and rattlesnake round-ups as unsporting and inhumane spectacles.
- Investigating, researching, and reporting on animal abuse in Oklahoma and paying rewards to tipsters whose accounts result in arrests and prosecutions of abusers.
- Raising awareness about inhumane and extreme confinement of breeding sows in gestation crates and laying hens in battery cages. We also promote awareness of lobbying by foreign corporations in control of pig production practices in Oklahoma and throughout the rest of the United States.
Ways to Take Action Now
- Consider meeting with your state legislator(s) and let them know that animal issues are a high priority for you as their constituent. If you’re unfamiliar with who your legislators are, you can find them here by name or by the town they represent. We would be happy to join you at the meeting or help answer any questions you may have.
- Follow Animal Wellness Action Oklahoma’s Facebook page to stay up to date on important meetings, public events, and other animal news in Oklahoma.
- Bring these issues to the attention of your neighbors by posting educational information on social media and raising the issue of animal protection at your city council meetings, or talking to your friends. Many Oklahomans are not aware of what happens to animals in our state, and you have the power to create meaningful change in your community!
