WILSON, Okla.– Before Oklahoma became one of the last places in the U.S. to ban cockfighting in 2002, it was not uncommon to see hundreds of spectators gathering in small arenas in rural parts of the state to watch roosters, often equipped with razor-sharp steel blades. fight to a bloody death.
More than two decades after the ban went into effect, some are starting to worry about Oklahoma.
A proposal to weaken penalties for cockfighting has passed the Oklahoma House. A political action committee is raising money to support farmers who raise gamefowl. And in a video that has since been pulled from YouTube, Republican Governor Kevin Stitt recorded a message supporting the group known as the Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission, saying he would “cheer you on from the sidelines.”
“They tried to make an official-sounding name,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action, which worked to turn out voters in Oklahoma and ban the activity 20 years ago. “But they’re just a bunch of cockfighters.”
He said that before the ban, Oklahoma’s rural counties were dotted with cockfighting arenas in large barns with stadium-style seating, ceiling lights and even concession stands. The events attracted hundreds of spectators, even children and families. After a major event, it was not uncommon to see the grounds littered with dead bird carcasses after battles to the death.
“We went from 42 arenas to… maybe there are 10 or 15 pits in the state,” he said.
The reemergence of cockfighting as an issue in the Oklahoma Capitol is frustrating opponents who until recently had long considered the matter settled. Cockfighting is federally illegal and can carry up to five years in prison for some offenses. But a spate of recent arrests related to cockfighting in both Oklahoma and elsewhere also reminds us that the practice has not so much been eliminated as driven underground.
Police in Hawaii have vowed to step up enforcement after one of the worst mass shootings in that state’s history occurred last year during a cockfight that left five people shot, including two dead.
For his part, Stitt said he records dozens of videos every week and didn’t put much thought into his participation. “Obviously I am not in favor of fighting in the state of Oklahoma,” he told The Associated Press. But he also suggested he would be open to reducing the penalties if the Republican Party-controlled Legislature sends him a bill.
The video sparked a bipartisan backlash in Oklahoma, including from former Gov. Frank Keating, a fellow Republican. Oklahoma legend Barry Switzer – whose nickname in the state is simply “The King” after winning three national championships and a Super Bowl with the Dallas Cowboys – also came after Stitt.
But the response hasn’t deterred Anthony Devore, head of the Gamefowl Commission. He says his organization has 15,000 members and describes them as mostly hardworking rural Oklahomans. His group has raised more than $70,000 to lobby lawmakers and is trying to replicate the same model in several other conservative Southern states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky and Mississippi.
Devore said he and others raise the birds to compete in poultry shows and sell them as breeding stock abroad. Although cockfighting is illegal in many countries, it remains legal and popular in some Mexican states, the Philippines and some countries in Southeast Asia.
“We represent gamefowl breeders who breed and raise gamefowl, but not for fighting purposes,” said Devore, himself a gamefowl breeder.
But Devore acknowledged that a former district director of his organization, who has since resigned, was arrested and charged with facilitating a cockfight after authorities in Carter County raided a cockfighting pit with more than 100 people in attendance. That criminal case is pending.
Devore and other members acknowledge they are operating in a gray area of the law and say reducing the penalties would eliminate the fear of criminal charges hanging over their heads.
The effort is welcome news for Troy Thompson, a former high school teacher and coach who now works full-time raising thousands of birds a year on his 22.26-acre farm, dotted with white, tent-like structures near the city. of Wilson in far southern Oklahoma, just 30 miles (48.28 kilometers) north of the Red River border with Texas.
Thompson, 50, says the chickens on his farm, which are kept on foot straps so they don’t fight each other, are fed year-round vitamins, green grass and the highest quality feed he can buy. He said his chickens have a much better life than on a typical poultry farm, where they are raised in a small cage and slaughtered when they are about six weeks old.
“Last week a ten-year-old rooster died,” he said. “They have a much better life here than on a poultry farm in Tyson.”
Thompson said he grew up at a time when cockfighting was legal and dozens of ranches dotted the rolling hills of southern Oklahoma. The name of his childhood T-ball team was the Dillard Fighting Cocks.
“Will that go away today?” he asked. “It’s amazing that you went from being completely legal to being sentenced to 10 years in prison.”
And while some law enforcement and prosecutors have recently been cracking down on those who breed and control birds, with recent arrests in both urban and rural communities, prosecutors say it is unlikely that anyone has been sentenced to prison for cockfighting.
“I would say there’s probably almost no one in jail,” said Greg Mashburn, the top prosecutor for three central Oklahoma counties. “In the 18 years that I have been a prosecutor, we have only had two cases.”
Still, Mashburn says it’s important to enforce laws against cockfighting because there is often a criminal element involved in the activities that often involve illegal drugs and gambling.
“It’s also cruel to the animals,” Mashburn said. “And where do you draw the line? If we allow that in chickens, why don’t dogs or other animals fight to the death?”
Still, some animal rights advocates say other local sheriffs and prosecutors often turn a blind eye to the practice. Although the ban on cockfighting passed with 56% of the vote in 2002, 57 of the state’s 77 counties supported making cockfights legal.
Drew Edmondson, former attorney general and attorney general of Oklahoma, now serves as law enforcement co-chair for Animal Wellness Action. He said it’s easy to understand why some elected officials in Oklahoma, even sheriffs, look the other way when it comes to cockfighting.
He called it a combination of money and politics.
“For local politicians, it’s a pretty easy decision if 60, 70, 80% of their district voted ‘no’ on the issue, to soften the case and not treat it as a serious crime,” he said.