Tennessee law enforcement joins National Sheriffs’ and hundreds of other agencies and organizations in signaling illegal animal fighting is rampant and must be pulled up at the roots
Washington, D.C. — National animal-welfare groups applauded the Tennessee Sheriffs’ Association (TSA) for endorsing the FIGHT Act in Congress and urging the state’s U.S. Senators and Representatives to swing behind the bipartisan legislation to eradicate the twin scourges of dogfighting and cockfighting.
The TSA speaks for all 95 elected county sheriffs in the state, and that association is now one of nearly 700 agencies, trade associations, and organizations to back the legislation, led by Representatives Don Bacon, R-Neb., and Andrea Salinas, D-Ore., in the House and Senators Cory Booker, D-N.J., and John Kennedy, R-La., in the Senate.
“Tennessee has had persistent animal fighting problems, with the federal government conducting a major bust of two fighting pits in 2005 in Cocke County that revealed not only barbaric animal cruelty, but also chop shops, prostitution rings, and minors gambling large sums of money at the fights,” wrote Sheriff Jeff Bledsoe, Ret., the executive director of the Tennessee Sheriffs’ Association (TSA), In a letter to the state’s elected lawmakers in Congress.
Bledsoe also emphasized that animal fighting is “a form of organized crime that is intricately linked with other serious offenses, including illegal gambling, weapons possession, money laundering, and drug trafficking.”
The endorsement, which came yesterday and can be viewed here, adds the TSA to a growing list of organizations from multiple disciplines that have endorsed the Fight Inhumane Gambling and High-Risk Animal Trafficking (FIGHT) Act H.R. 2742, S. 1529).
“Sheriffs throughout Tennessee understand that dogfighting and cockfighting are barbaric enterprises that degrade the safety of communities and that new tools are needed to break up these organized criminal syndicates,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy. “Animal fighting is rotten to its core and is a threat to so many aspects of a civil and safe society.”
The FIGHT Act, by amending Section 26 of the Animal Welfare Act, would enhance enforcement of these laws by banning online gambling on animal fights; halting the shipment of mature roosters (chickens only) through the U.S. Postal Service (it is already illegal to ship dogs through the mail); allowing a civil right of action for private citizens against animal fighters after proper notice to federal authorities; and enhancing criminal forfeiture penalties to include real property for those convicted of animal fighting crimes.
In 2020, Animal Wellness Action announced that an investigation uncovered extensive involvement in cockfighting from a large number of individuals in Tennessee, including several who ship cockfighting birds to Mexico, the Philippines, Guam, and other distant locations. The groups allege that these individuals are also involved in fights at illegal pits in Tennessee, Kentucky, and other states.
The organizations noted that long-distance movement of fighting birds poses a threat to avian health, and the nation is experiencing its worst-ever outbreak of avian diseases.
“Cockfighting drives outbreaks of serious poultry and zoonotic diseases, especially virulent Newcastle disease (vND) and highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses,” said Jim Keen, D.V.M, Ph.D., who is the director of veterinary sciences for the Center for a Humane Economy. He added that HPAI (“bird flu”) and virulent Newcastle Disease (vND) are the two most high-impact diseases of poultry worldwide. Animal Wellness Action and the Center for Humane Economy released a comprehensive 63-page report on cockfighting links with avian influenza and virulent Newcastle Disease. The report documents that 10 of the 15 US vND outbreaks originated from illegally smuggled game fowl for cockfighting.
As of June 13, 2024, the ongoing H5N1 bird flu epidemic has killed 96.91 million poultry in 496 commercial and 655 backyard flocks and countless wildfowl in all states except Hawaii. The United Egg Producers supports the legislation, noting that 60 million laying hens have been lost to H5N1 during the last three years, shrinking supply and increasing prices. UEP notes that 60 million laying hens have been lost to H5N1 during the last three years, shrinking supply and increasing prices.
Animal fighting maims and kills dogs and birds for the thrill of the bloodletting and for high-stakes gambling, with cockfighters affixing razor-sharp knives or gaffs on roosters’ legs for combat. Animal fighting is closely tied to organized criminal enterprises including illegal weapons dealing, drug trafficking, and community violence. There have been multiple mass shootings involving Americans at animal fighting venues from Hawaii to Mississippi to Mexico. Congress extended the reach of the federal law against animal fighting to the U.S. territories in 2019, but to date, there has not been a single prosecution of illegal cockfighting in the territories.
So far, Congressman Tim Burchett, R-2, is the only cosponsor of the FIGHT Act from the Tennessee Congressional delegation.