Oklahoma Voters, Judge Deliver Verdicts Against Animal Fighting
We help defeat three pro-cockfighting candidates for public office in Republican primaries in Oklahoma, while a federal judge incarcerates a dogfighter for a long haul.
- Wayne Pacelle
A year ago, an Animal Wellness Action undercover investigator caught Anthony DeVore red-handed at a cockfighting pit in eastern Oklahoma.
He had a number pinned to his back — a telltale marker that he’d brought birds from his cockfighting farm to participate in lethal combat in a derby at the clandestine venue. Participation in a cockfight is a felony in Oklahoma.
DeVore, a pro-cockfighting lobbyist, had long assured lawmakers at the state capitol he was no cockfighter but merely a criminal justice reform advocate who thought the penalties for illegal animal fighting were too stiff.
It was a very thinly veiled lie. We knew it all along. And we showed it to the world when we released the footage of him at a cockfight.
DeVore has long operated a major cockfighting complex in Bryan County, Okla. And he’s been doggedly but unsuccessfully lobbying for years to decriminalize cockfighting, serving as president of a cockfighting front group called the Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission and forming similar groups in other states with their own criminal networks of cockfighters.
Then, just one year after his arrest, DeVore was on the ballot in Oklahoma. He was running for the state House of Representatives in a district covering four counties in the southeastern part of the state — an area he touted as a stronghold of cockfighting. After years of working to weaken Oklahoma’s cockfighting law while routinely breaking the laws of Oklahoma, he was asking voters to give him the power to make laws that other citizens are schooled to respect.
The voters delivered their verdict:
Not a chance.
Republicans in House District 19 rejected DeVore by a lopsided two-to-one margin and chose Michael Brittingham, an opponent of animal fighting, to represent them instead.
Animal Wellness Action conducted an independent expenditure campaign in the district, informing voters about DeVore’s record. You can see one of our social media posts about DeVore here, where we point to his recent arrest for cockfighting, his violations of campaign finance laws related to a cockfighting front group (leading to a $10,000 fine and an order to dissolve the political action committee), the bilking of customers of his solar energy company, and his declaring bankruptcy.
DeVore wasn’t the only defender of cockfighting rejected by voters this year.
Some weeks earlier, we helped defeat two other pro-cockfighting lawmakers in Oklahoma seeking the Republican nominations for governor and lieutenant governor.
It just doesn’t seem to be a good idea to run as a pro-cockfighting candidate in a state where voters made cockfighting a felony.
Dogfighter Loses His Freedom, and It’s About Time
On the same day as DeVore’s ballot-box trouncing, a federal judge sentenced repeat Tulsa dogfighter Julius Deane Griffin to 17 1/2 years in federal prison.
Griffin had already been convicted of dogfighting in 2005 in connection with a major Oklahoma case involving more than 40 dogs.
Not having learned his lesson, he was back at it.
More than two decades later, he got crosswise with federal authorities. At his northwest Tulsa residence, they found 17 live pit bull-type dogs and one dead dog, along with dogfighting trophies, treadmills, kennels, digital scales, injectable steroids, syringes, dog medications, illegal firearms, and more than $16,000 in cash.
Several of the surviving dogs had missing or damaged body parts, scars, and open wounds consistent with fighting. Investigators also discovered electronic evidence documenting dogfighting activity, including a video showing a child cheering during a dogfight.
For this second conviction, Griffin will spend the better part of two decades in a federal penitentiary.
Airlines Should Not Be Getaway Cars for Animal Smugglers
For years, our investigators have documented American cockfighters like DeVore exporting fighting birds to other states and to more than 30 countries, where organized criminal networks profit from staged animal combat and illegal gambling.
We’ve identified Korean Air as one of the principal carriers transporting fighting birds from the United States to the Philippines. We estimate that as many as 40,000 American fighting birds were entering that country each year. With many birds selling for $2,000 or more, that represents an illegal trade approaching $80 million annually.
After we presented Korean Air with overwhelming evidence of this contraband in the cargo hold, the airline agreed to stop accepting direct shipments of fighting animals destined for the Philippines.
We applauded the Seoul-based airline.
But lawbreakers don’t typically just pack up and go home. The animal traffickers immediately began rerouting birds through Vietnam.
Recent shipping manifests show that Korean Air is still providing these other routes to cockfighters. U.S. law forbids interstate or foreign commerce in animals intended for fighting, and no airline gets to pick and choose which routes warrant compliance. We discovered, too, that other international carriers, including Turkish Airlines and Qatar Airways, have also provided cargo services for animal fighters.
There is no legitimate agricultural reason to spend nearly $200 to fly an ordinary rooster halfway around the world. These transport expenses make sense only because these are specialized fighting birds destined for cockfighting pits, where they command enormous prices.
Animal Fighting Is a Global Organized Crime Racket
We have seen cartel massacres at cockfighting arenas in Mexico and Ecuador and mass killings in the Philippines tied to animal fighting. In the United States, animal fighting ventures are cluster crimes, with illegal gambling, narcotics trafficking, illegal firearms, and other mayhem.
That is why America’s law enforcement community has rallied behind stronger federal action.
More than 1,100 agencies and organizations endorse the FIGHT Act, S. 1454 and H.R. 3946, which would enhance enforcement tools to shut down dogfighting and cockfighting crime syndicates, including banning the U.S. Postal Service from shipping roosters through the mail. And hundreds of agencies have also endorsed a second bill we’ve spearheaded that targets illegal trafficking of fighting animals on commercial airlines. The Major County Sheriffs of America endorsed that bill this week, joining the National Sheriffs’ Association and hundreds of other law enforcement agencies.
Together, these measures seek to dry up hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal commerce generated by cockfighters like DeVore who send their birds via USPS air or ground carriers or international airlines.
There’ll Be No Quarter for Animal Fighters
We are attacking animal fighting from every angle. Conducting undercover investigations, Issuing rewards for information on perpetrators. Lobbying for better laws. Seeking legislation to create special units focused on animal fighting crimes in the states and at the U.S. Department of Justice. Conducting corporate campaigns to stop the illegal use of commercial airlines for animal fighting commerce.
And Animal Wellness Action is working to expose and defeat candidates who want to roll back state and federal laws against animal fighting.
This is a comprehensive campaign. But we can only attack animal fighting from all these angles with your help.
Please take two actions today.
First, contact your U.S. representative and U.S. senators and urge them to support and pass the FIGHT Act (H.R. 3946 in the House, S. 1454 in the Senate) and the No Flight, No Fight Act (H.R. 7371 in the House).
Second, please make a generous donation to Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy. Your support enables our investigations, public education, advocacy, law enforcement partnerships, and campaigns to stamp out the vicious participatory and spectator sports of dogfighting and cockfighting.
Animal fighting is a crime. But an all too common one. But with your steadfastness, we can continue our game-changing work to dismantle these organized crime networks.
Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy, is the author of two New York Times bestselling books, “The Bond” and “The Humane Economy.”
Dear reader: If you support substantive policy work to protect animals, please consider donating to Animal Wellness Action here. You can give any amount one time, or make it a monthly gift, as many of our supporters do. Thank you for helping us fight for all animals.