Senate Committee Yet Again Turns Away Efforts to Decriminalize the Barbaric, Virally Dangerous Practice of Cockfighting

Oklahoma City, OK — The latest effort to gut the state law establishing strong penalties for the crime of cockfighting was met with another defeat on Tuesday, with the Oklahoma Senate Public Safety Committee choosing not to pass SB 1111 out of committee. Lawmakers have introduced dozens of bills since voters made cockfighting a felony in 2002. Cockfighting is also a felony at the federal level, with severe penalties enacted overwhelmingly by Congress in 2007. There are yet more efforts at the federal level to strengthen an already robust federal anti-animal fighting law.

The Oklahoma bill, authored by State Senator Tom Woods, R-Adair County, would have drastically weakened Oklahoma’s anti-cockfighting law by reducing the penalty for organizing or participating in cockfighting from a felony to a misdemeanor, removed the term of imprisonment, and reduced the fine to $500 from up to $25,000 for first-time offenders. 

“Senator Woods’ bill was a blatant attempt to overturn the vote of the people,” said Kevin Chambers, Oklahoma state director for Animal Wellness Action and a native of Adair County. “Fortunately, the members of the Public Safety Committee realized what a colossally unpopular move it would be to decriminalize this sickening, crime-infested form of staged animal cruelty.”

Senators Michael Brooks (D), Regina Goodwin (D), Darcy Jech (R) and Darrell Weaver (R) voted against the bill. Senators Warren Hamilton (R), Spencer Kern (R) and Casey Murdock (R) voted in favor of decriminalization.

Just one year ago, in Senator Woods’ Adair County district, the Adair County Sheriff’s Office failed to break up a large cockfight they were tipped off about three days in advance. “The laws that we already have against barbaric animal fighting need to be enforced before we can rid our state of cockfighting and its associated crimes,” said Chambers.

A second bill, HB 1313 by State Representative Justin Humphrey (R), would reduce cockfighting to a misdemeanor, and is still technically alive, but it is almost certainly not going to progress in its current form.

“Cockfighting is settled as a matter of law and morality, and all lawmakers should stop listening to the pleadings of an organized crime association,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action, which helped lead opposition to the legislation. “Oklahomans want cockfighting to be illegal, they want felony-level penalties for this malice, and they want the law actively enforced in every county.”

According to a Sooner Survey released in late March 2024, 87 percent of Oklahomans favor a ban on cockfighting. “Even in the Southeast (86%) and Southwest (80%), we have uber-majorities wanting cockfighting to be illegal. In fact, in each of the five congressional districts in Oklahoma, at least 83% want cockfighting to be illegal and in no instance does support for legality exceed 12%,” observed Pat McFerron, president of Cole Hargrave Snodgrass & Associates and architect of the Sooner Survey. The survey was the first independent poll to examine attitudes toward cockfighting in the state in years.

Dr. Pool, a retired colonel in the U.S. Army who ran the Veterinary Command for three branches of the U.S. military and who grew up on his family’s 100-year-old ranch near Lawton, said that even having this debate hurts Oklahoma’s image.

“The problem is not that our anti-cruelty laws are too harsh,” said Drew Edmondson, former Oklahoma Attorney General (1994-2010) and co-chair of the National Law Enforcement Council for Animal Wellness Action. “Rather it’s that cockfighters are exhibiting knowing and reckless disregard for our laws, and some county sheriffs and district attorneys are failing to uphold the law without fear or favor.”

Edmondson was attorney general when Oklahoma approved State Question 687, and he defended the measure against cockfighters’ attempts to suspend the law in the counties. In 2004, the Oklahoma Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the vote of the people was a proper exercise of state authority.