Recent investigations into smuggling of fighting birds triggered legislation from U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls to halt transnational shipments of tens of thousands of birds
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Following a series of investigations by Animal Wellness Action, the Center for a Humane Economy, and the Dallas Morning News, and then the subsequent introduction of federal legislation targeting illegal smuggling of fighting animals via international air carriers, Korean Air has made an internal policy decision to halt shipments of roosters to the Philippines.
Korean Air’s new policy denies the criminal network of U.S. cockfighters a transportation channel previously used for shipments of roosters that enable sales in the Philippines. The Philippines, according to some reports, imports up to 40,000 fighting birds from the United States, with a single fighting cock going for as much as $2,000. In 2022, the Philippine government reported over $13 billion in wagers on e-sabong, or online cockfighting.
“Airlines shouldn’t be serving as cargo carriers for cockfighters and the organized crime networks tied to them, and this policy stops as much as $80 million in illegal revenues for cockfighters selling birds to their brethren in the Philippines,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy. “It’s apparent, based on our discussions with Korean Air, that it was an unwitting carrier of fighting birds. We applaud the company for agreeing to address the criminal trade we pinpointed and end any transport of live roosters.”
Pacelle also credited Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas-22, the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Aviation, for introducing the No Flight, No Fight Act, H.R. 7371, in February to forbid any shipment of roosters on commercial airlines and other air carriers.
“You can directly link the introduction of Chairman Nehls’ bill to this week’s Korean Air announcement,” added Pacelle. And last week, Nehls introduced Amendment No. 22 to H.R. 7567, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act, to achieve the same purpose as his original bill. The House Rules Committee decides early this week if it can be offered during consideration of H.R. 7567, expected later this week. Nehls’s amendment is co-led by Rep. Troy Carter, D-La., and cosponsored by Reps. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla.Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, David Schweikert, R-Ariz., Randy Fine, R-Fla., Lance Gooden, R-Texas, Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J.
The original legislation was introduced in February and already has nearly 200 endorsers, including the National Sheriffs’ Association, the Small and Rural Law Enforcement Executives Association and state sheriffs’ and district attorneys’ associations from Alabama to Idaho to Wisconsin. A closely related bill, the FIGHT Act, S. 1454/H.R. 3946, has over 1,100 endorsing organizations, including 500 law enforcement associations and agencies and major poultry industry operators across the Midwest. Senators John Kennedy, R-La., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., are leading anti-animal fighting efforts in the Senate and their legislation has a raft of cosponsors from both parties.
In fall 2025, investigators with the Center for a Humane Economy and Animal Wellness Action traced illicit traffic from gamefowl farms in Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas to brokers, including the so-called North Texas Livestock Shipping (NTLS) in Dallas. NTLS ships the birds on Korean Air to Manila Airport via Incheon Airport in Korea. Our investigation found that there are tens of thousands of birds moved annually from the U.S. to the Philippines and Mexico, while there is also trafficking of animals to two dozen other nations.
Both organizations also had undercover investigators at the World Slasher Cup (WSC), which ran from Jan. 25–31 in Manila, and featured 800 animal fights and a crowd of thousands, including Americans who illegally transported hundreds of birds on commercial aircraft for these battles. “Dozens of American cockfighters took part in the fights and illegally supplied fighting roosters conscripted into incredibly bloody battles,” reported Kevin Chambers, senior investigator for Animal Wellness Action. “These birds traveled via Korean Air. No fight was called off until at least one bird was killed, and many battles resulted in both animals perishing.” The Philippine Animal Welfare Society and the Korean Animal Welfare Association cooperated closely with us on our investigations.
U.S. airlines do not accept live birds for shipment to the Philippines, but Philippine Airlines and Cathay Pacific reportedly still do. Filipino cockfighters exhibiting at the World Gamefowl Expo in Manila, just prior to the WSC, told the Center for a Humane Economy that, in certain instances, shipments originating in the New World were transported via Korean Air.. Korean Air’s voluntary action in halting these shipments illustrates its commitment to safe and humane animal transport.
“Criminal U.S. cockfighters have become the biggest worldwide suppliers of fighting animals, abetting animal cruelty, illegal gambling, money laundering, and other crimes with this illicit commerce,” added Pacelle. A decade ago, a USDA report estimated as many as 24 million fighting birds in the United States.
Col. Tom Pool (ret.), DVM, MPH, former Guam Territorial Veterinarian and former chief of the U.S. Army Veterinary Command, said, “I’ve seen firsthand how entrenched and barbaric the cockfighting industry is in the Philippines and Vietnam. It’s an organized crime racket involving murder, money laundering, and high-stakes gambling. Congress outlawed any foreign transports of fighting animals in 2002, but that law has been consistently ignored. Korean Air’s announcement is the start of the dismantling of this organized animal trafficking.”
Dr. Pool added that the current global H5N1 pandemic began from the trafficking of fighting birds originating in Thailand. “American cockfighters cannot use ground transport or cargo ships to move these birds,” Dr. Pool added. “That’s why ending airline transport of these birds is one of the most effective ways to disrupt this trade.”
Dr. Pool noted that the No Flight, No Fight Act sends a major signal to international air carriers to halt their involvement in the trade. Major U.S.-based poultry companies concur.
Rose Acre Farms, one of the top three U.S. egg-producing companies, partnered with Animal Wellness Action in promoting No Flight, No Fight Act in Congress. “Fighting birds are distinctly different from birds raised for meat or egg production, and only cockfighting animals carry the extraordinary value that justifies these expensive international shipments,” said Marcus Rust, the chief innovations officer for Rose Acre Farms in Seymour, Ind. Since the H5N1 pandemic hit the United States starting in 2022, Rose Acre Farms has lost five million birds so far to the pandemic still coursing through avian species.
Violence tied to cockfighting operations has resulted in mass casualties in Mexico and Ecuador, and hundreds of murders have been linked to cockfighting-related disputes in the Philippines.
Animal Wellness Action’s video on No Flight, No Fight can be found here.