The FIGHT Act steps up enforcement to end barbaric, crime-infested fighting operations
Polk County, FL — Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy, applauded the work of Polk County sheriff’s deputies for acting swiftly and appropriately upon accidental discovery of an illegal animal fighting situation.
Deputies had responded to a tip regarding an unrelated crime and discovered multiple roosters in cages missing their combs and wattles, which is a common mutilation procedure conducted by cockfighters to prepare the birds for battle. Also visible was a fighting ring and scales for setting weight class for fighting birds.
Detectives garnered a search warrant, and found more fighting paraphernalia, including metal spurs. Alex Galarza was arrested and charged with breeding and training birds for cockfighting, and possession of birds for fighting, and operating a property for cockfighting.
“An operation with a ring, multiple birds missing external body parts, the availability of gaffs or knives to affix to the combatants’ legs has all of the features of a serious fighting operation, and we applaud Polk County Sheriff’s deputies for their policing instincts in sniffing out this criminal enterprise and then shuttering it,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action, which is leading a national campaign against staged animal fighting. “Animal fighting is organized crime linked to illegal weapons and gambling, money laundering and drug trafficking and undermines the safety of our communities.”
Animal fighting and associated activities, such as possession of fighting animals, are felony offenses.
At the same time, there is an effort at the federal level to get at these clandestine, multi-state, and multinational fighting operations. The federal Fighting Inhumane Gambling and High-risk Trafficking (FIGHT) 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.
Florida Sheriffs’ Associations joins others in Arizona, Alabama, Arizona, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas along with the National Sheriffs’ Association and the National District Attorneys Association, to endorse the FIGHT Act.
“Cockfighting is a crime of violence, and it is bound up with other crimes, including border crimes like illegal trafficking of animals and narcotics,” added Pacelle. “We have a long way to go before these crime networks are dismantled, and the FIGHT Act provides the tools to do exactly that.”