Louisville Dogfighting Bust Prompts Call for State’s Federal Representatives to Cosponsor FIGHT Act

Louisville, KY — With a nationally known dogfighter just arrested in the state, Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy are calling on state and federal lawmakers from Kentucky to do more to crack down on the scourges of dogfighting and cockfighting in the Bluegrass State.

“Not a single elected member of Congress from Kentucky has cosponsored the Fighting Inhumane Gambling and High-Risk Trafficking (FIGHT) Act, and a bill to strengthen the state’s anemic animal fighting law did not even get a hearing in Frankfort this year,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of the groups. “Kentucky must do better, given its national reputation as a haven for dogfighting and cockfighting.”

Pacelle and others in his organization — including Pamela Rogers, the groups’ Kentucky state director — reacted to news that Louisville Metropolitan Police Officers recently made a significant arrest in Louisville’s South End based on an anonymous tip. Officers arrived at a home on Lillian Avenue — walking distance from the world-famous Churchill Downs — and seized four dogs.

According to a Facebook post by LMPD, the dogs were “living in feces-infested kennels or trapped in mud, leg high. Several of the pups have heartworms.” The Animal Cruelty Enforcement Unit of the department recovered “supplements and medications, weighted collars, scales, carpet mills, dog fighting paperwork, spring poles and other evidence indicative of dog fighting,” the post said.

Arrested was 47-year-old Kareem Garner, who police said has been operating a dog fighting ring for a long time. Police believe his stature in the dog fighting world is considered “prolific” and that he is apparently well known in the region for dog fighting. He was charged with four counts of dog fighting (each a felony) and four counts of 2nd Degree Cruelty to Animals (misdemeanors).

Legislative Remedy Deserves Kentucky’s Support

Both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate are now considering the Fighting Inhumane Gambling and High-Risk Trafficking (FIGHT) Act, and the authors hope to include the provision as an amendment to the Farm bill. Both pieces of legislation were driven by concerns for the barbarism of animal fighting, other criminal behavior commingled with it, and disease threats to poultry posed by transporting fighting roosters.

The FIGHT Act, amending Section 26 of the Animal Welfare Act, would enhance the enforcement opportunities by banning simulcasting and gambling of animal fighting ventures; halting the shipment of mature roosters (chickens only) shipped through the U.S. mail (it is already illegal to ship dogs through the mail); creating a citizen suit provision, after proper notice to federal authorities, to allow private right of action against illegal animal fighters; and enhancing forfeiture provisions to include real property for animal fighting crimes.

Kentucky is one of the nation’s worst when it comes to animal fighting, said Rogers. Dogfighting is common in more urban areas, and the state’s rural regions are pocked with cockfighting pits. Despite its reputation as a haven for such animal abuse, none of the state’s elected representatives have cosponsored the Act.

“Animal fighting crimes are very well known to our lawmakers at the state and federal level,” she said. “We have worked with partner organizations to identify the precise location of fighting arenas. While there’s been more action in recent months than in all prior years, these crimes of violence must be aggressively taken on by local, state, and federal authorities.”

“There’s just no excuse for any lawmaker not to get on the scoreboard and associate himself or herself with efforts to root out this vicious cruelty and the crime clusters that accompany the staged animal battles,” said Joseph Grove, the Jefferson County, Ky.-based senior director of communications for Animal Wellness Action and the Center.

“Improving the lives of animals here and thereby our national reputation would be one more way to make our decaying urban area more attractive to businesses,” he said. “That there is so little interest in doing so is vexing, to say the least.”

Reward Program

To help combat dogfighting and cockfighting, Animal Wellness Action has launched a new reward program that offers cash compensation not only for information that leads to arrests and convictions, but also for tips on the location of planned or occurring cockfights in the state. The organization will provide $2,500 to any individual who provides tips to us or law enforcement that results in arrests in Kentucky for illegal cockfighting under state or federal law. Amounts for other information will vary based on the credibility and timeliness of the tips.

Tipsters may contact animalcrueltytips@animalwellnessaction.org.