One more bust in the “Cockfighting Corridor” between Tulsa and Dallas
ALVARADO, Texas — In the wake of a report last month that identified an extensive criminal network of illegal cockfighting operations clustered between Tulsa and Dallas, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office raided a Thanksgiving Day cockfighting derby in Alvarado, arresting 25 people and seizing more than 60 roosters. The Texas Department of Public Safety and Parks and Wildlife game wardens assisted in the interdiction. Thanksgiving Day typically kicks off the new cockfighting season.
“Holding a cockfight on Thanksgiving is grotesque — mocking everything related to community and family that the holiday represents,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy, which lead a national campaign against illegal animal fighting in cooperation with Showing Animals Respect and Kindness. “But let’s remember that cockfighting is a depraved activity every day of the year, and that’s why we are grateful to the Johnson County Sheriff and his deputies for busting this violent and criminal conduct yesterday. We urge swift and meaningful justice in this case of violent animal cruelty.”
Collecting live fighting roosters and weapons, law enforcement intervened before more animals suffered injury or death. Among the birds recovered, some showed serious injuries. We are grateful to Nature’s Edge Wildlife Rehabilitation for taking the rescued birds. Alvarado is the same community where cockfighters held their El Gallo Show tradeshow in May this year.
In October, the organizations released a blistering report exposing a vast criminal network from Tulsa to Dallas with animal cruelty at its core but also bound up with illegal gambling, narcotics trafficking, tax evasion, political corruption, and international money laundering.
Dubbed the “Texoma Cockfighting Corridor,” this extensive crime network sends animals to their deaths in fighting pits peppering the Tulsa-to-Dallas corridor but also ships thousands of fighting birds from the United States to even more hardened organized crime networks in Mexico and the Philippines. Johnson County is one of many counties in the Dallas metroplex and in northeast Texas that has substantial illegal animal fighting operations.
Animal Wellness Action, SHARK, and the Center for a Humane Economy call on law enforcement agencies across Texas and throughout the United States to take the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office as an example of how to handle these animal cruelty crimes. The Sheriffs’ Association of Texas and the Oklahoma Sheriffs’ Association have endorsed the FIGHT Act, S. 1454 and H.R. 3946, to upgrade enforcement tools to crack down on illegal cockfighting and dogfighting. That legislation is pending in both chambers of Congress, it has broad bipartisan support, and it has more than 1,000 endorsing agencies and organizations.
Animal Wellness Action urges members of the public who come across any suspicious listings, posts, or events related to cockfighting – whether online or in person – to report them immediately to local law enforcement, and to contact Animal Wellness Action with any information they may have. Tips can be sent to animalcrueltytips@animalwellnessaction.org.