Leaders of “U.S. Gamefowl Commission” — Long Denying Any Such Involvement — Exposed for Participating at Cockfighting Derbies

McIntosh County, OK — On successive weekends, undercover investigators with Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy recorded Anthony Devore and Blake Pearce participating in illegal cockfighting events held in McIntosh County, Oklahoma. These two large-scale cockfighting events — one on May 31 and the second on June 7 — occurred on Cherokee Tribal land, with each drawing more than 100 entrants and spectators.  Our investigators caught both men participating at the cockfighting pit.

In prior months, investigators from that Animal Wellness Action along with Showing Animal Respect and Kindness (SHARK) also documented their family cockfighting complexes in nearby counties. One of their associates — Chance Campo, at the time the district director for the Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission, which Devore and Pearce founded — was arrested for illegal cockfighting by the Carter County Sheriff.

“Falsely representing themselves as ‘chicken farmers’ and ‘gamefowl enthusiasts,’ these con men have been doling out ill-gotten gains, perhaps more than $100,000, to Oklahoma politicians and other political activities in an attempt to weaken the state’s voter-approved law-making cockfighting illegal,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy. “We’ve been alert to their deceptions and criminal activity from the get-go, but now we have the video evidence to expose their involvement to protect their own organized crime rackets.”

Without any success, Devore and Pearce have been lobbying to gut Oklahoma’s voter-approved anti-cockfighting law for the last three years, and they have formed a network of political organizations in half a dozen other states to advocate for cockfighters, even as they vehemently denied any involvement in the activity.  Devore is president of the USGC and the Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission (OGC), and Blake Pearce is vice president of the groups.  Pearce was the sole witness at a legislative hearing in Little Rock weeks ago advocating for the gutting of the state’s anti-cockfighting law, again denying any involvement in cockfighting.

“Devore and Pearce are traffickers of cockfighting birds, violating state and federal laws on a regular basis,” said Steve Hindi, founder and president of SHARK.  “Yet, they have the utter gall to put on suits and lobby lawmakers in multiple states, claiming that they are criminal justice advocates who have not a thing to do with cockfighting. The unambiguous video evidence tells a completely different story.”

Blake Pearce was clearly visible in the front row of a cockfight on May 31^st enthusiastically cheering during the bouts while wearing an Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission-branded t-shirt. Just one week later, on June 7^th, Anthony Devore was captured on video participating directly in cockfighting activities.

These appearances starkly contradict prior public statements made by both Devore and Pearce, who have repeatedly denied any involvement in cockfighting and insisted that their organizations do not condone illegal activities. Their presence and participation unmask their long-running charade and conspiracy.  Animal Wellness Action and Showing Animals Respect and Kindness also have drone footage of their cockfighting operations in eastern Oklahoma, with hundreds of birds tethered to small shelters with all of the telltale features of a cockfighting operation.

“We represent game fowl farmers who breed and raise game fowl, but not for fighting purposes,” said Devore, himself a game fowl breeder. — NBC News March 14, 2024 “Oklahoma’s push to weaken penalties for cockfighting frustrates opponents of the bloodsport.”

Animal welfare advocates are calling for immediate investigations and arrests of Devore and Pearce along with other participants at the fighting derbies for their violations of federal, state, and tribal law. 

“The two men, who are at the center of a national conspiracy to violate our nation’s anti-cruelty laws, have been collecting money at cockfights and illegally selling birds to finance their lifestyles and their political activity,” added Pacelle. “We call on every lawmaker who’s accepted money from these men to donate these ill-gotten campaign contributions to animal welfare charities.” The Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission, one of several such organized crime associations that the men run, has alone directly donated more than $70,000 to Oklahoma candidates for political office. We call on the Oklahoma Ethics Commission to investigate.

Cockfighting is a felony under Oklahoma state law and federal law, although enforcement remains inconsistent, particularly on tribal land where jurisdiction can be complex. Cockfighters purposefully locate their illegal activities on tribal land in an effort to hide behind the complexity. We hope the Native Nations will not allow these criminals to use them in this way.

The video evidence has been submitted to the appropriate authorities for further action. The video footage, including scenes of birds hacked to death at a major cockfighting venue, is available for broadcast to authorized media outlets. No arrests have been announced yet.

The organizations have uncovered more than a dozen illegal fighting pits in Oklahoma, yet local, state, tribal, and federal authorities in Oklahoma have rarely taken enforcement actions even in response to real-time information of illegal fighting activities. The organizations have found fighting pits in Adair, Atoka, Bryan, Carter, Cotton, Marshall, Murray and other counties throughout the state, along with dozens of large cockfighting farms that supply the pits within Oklahoma and across the world.