Dismantling Cockfighting in America

By Ann Chynoweth

While cockfighting may not loom large on the radar screens of most mainstream Americans, it is a thriving underground industry that claims millions of animal victims in the United States every year.

These fighting birds endure painful, bloody deaths staged solely to satisfy the bloodlust and gambling impulses of human spectators.

Decades-Long Campaign

The Oct. 13, 2007 bust of a massive San Diego County, Calif., cockfighting network is just the latest bout in The HSUS' campaign against illegal animal fighting operations. The HSUS has made dismantling the cockfighting industry a priority for the past 30 years—with forces on the ground—in legislative offices and in the courtroom.

Thanks to lobbying efforts by The HSUS and others, laws in all 50 states now make cockfighting illegal. In 35 states, it is a felony—double the number just a decade ago. Additionally, The HSUS has successfully lobbied Congress to twice tighten federal animal fighting laws and appropriate money for their enforcement.

©The HSUS/Carol Guzy

An injured bird cradled after a bust in Virginia in February.

Tools and Training

But a law is only as good as its enforcement, and that's why The HSUS provides ongoing training to law enforcement agencies nationwide to help them recognize and prosecute illegal animal fighters. As with the San Diego County raid, we also assist law enforcement agencies in executing raids on large animal fighting operations.

In the courtroom, The HSUS has provided expert testimony crucial to convictions in individual animal fighting cases, and recently The HSUS launched a legal offensive to eliminate the sale of illegal animal fighting magazines and videos on Amazon.com, the world's single largest retailer of these items.

Global Battle

The HSUS' anti-cockfighting campaign has even resonated internationally, with a successful effort to end the overseas shipment of fighting birds from the U.S. aboard the only two U.S.-based airlines known to ship the birds overseas.

Taking out the market for U.S. fighting birds in the Philippines and other countries has breeders of fighting birds smarting.

As one cockfighting enthusiast posted on an internet message board, the HSUS' anti-cockfighting campaign has been the "perfect storm" to destroy the U.S. cockfighting industry.

Ongoing Effort

However, as the recent San Diego raid shows, the battle against illegal cockfighting is far from over, and huge cockfighting networks still operate under the law enforcement radar in communities across the U.S. A large segment of cockfighters, many of them immigrants from countries where the bloody activity remains legal, have yet to get the message that animal cruelty is not entertainment and will not be tolerated in a humane society.

It is our mission to continue to strive to change that status.

Ann Chynoweth is an attorney and directs The HSUS' Animal Cruelty and Fighting Campaign.