Incident is another indicator of the need for federal law to eradicate illegal staged animal fighting, animal welfare groups say
Fort Lauderdale, FL — Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy, applauded the work of FBI agents in a major animal fighting raid that led to the arrest of one of South Florida’s top dogfighters at his Deerfield Beach home on Tuesday. Authorities seized nearly three dozen dogs on site.
According to the federal complaint, the defendants were involved for dogfighting for years and were major players in the enterprise. In 2023, according to the government’s complaint, a defendant bragged to an informant about the prowess of one of his dogs and showed a video on his cellphone of Blueface “killing and eating one of the dogs in the backyard” of his home.
“Given all that dogs do for us, it’s especially distressing when people commit acts of senseless cruelty to them. And no act is more gruesome or barbaric or intentionally cruel than dogfighting,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action, which is leading a national campaign against staged animal fighting. “We applaud the FBI for its diligent work to raid and capture one of the top dog fighting trainers and dog fighters in South Florida.”
In recent years, the Department of Justice and other federal law enforcement actors have stepped up interdictions of illegal dogfighting networks. That includes the recent arrest and conviction of a Maryland man who was a senior law communications official for the Department of Defense. He and a co-conspirator ran a dogfighting network for 20 years centered in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan areas.
Congress is now considering The FIGHT Act to bolster enforcement of animal fighting. The FIGHT Act has endorsements from 760 organizations and agencies, including the Florida Sheriffs’ Association, the National Sheriffs’ Association and the National District Attorneys Association. Animal welfare, agriculture, gaming, and conservation organizations are also pressing Congress to take final action on the issue. No other animal welfare legislation had as much bipartisan support as the FIGHT Act did in the 118th Congress. From Florida, 16 U.S. House members, 13 Republicans and 3 Democrats cosponsored H.R. 2742, which will soon be reintroduced in the House.