Another View: Amarillo cockfighting bust shows how staged fights spur a crime wave

Brianna Maestas’ compelling article about a cockfighting bust in Amarillo’s Byrd Addition, where deputies found 50 people watching a rooster fight in a pen, reminds us that the dirty business of cockfighting is more common than most people understand. After busting up the fight, and apprehending the criminal organization, law enforcement seized 160 roosters on deck for the fights.

Many of the people involved were not citizens of the United States, and local law enforcement notified Immigration and Customs Enforcement about their criminal activity in our country. And in addition to the felony offense of cockfighting, some also had narcotics in their possession. And to boot, they were violating Texas’s gambling laws.

At this staged animal fighting venue, there was a cluster of crimes, and that’s hardly unusual for cockfighting or dogfighting. The people who engage in these practices have no regard for the rule of law. That’s why it was so important for the safety of the community that the Potter County Sheriffs’ Office took action.

Animal Fighting Crisis Crosses Borders

It’s important to realize that American cockfighters today continue to send hundreds of thousands of fighting birds to die in fighting pits run by cartels in Mexico, and there is also a brisk trade of fighting animals from Mexico into the United States.

What this means is that we have an animal fighting crisis in our nation, and it’s part of the larger border crisis that is acutely afflicting Texas and other states on our southern border.

U.S.-based cockfighters are engaging in a massive trade with Mexican cartels that control many of the major cockfighting venues on both sides of the border.

The latest mass shootings at a cartel-controlled cockfight came just two weeks ago, producing six dead and 14 injured at a cockfight south of the border. One of the dead was a 16-year-old boy, who was a resident of eastern Washington State. A year earlier, there was a mass shooting that produced 20 dead, including a Chicago woman caught in the crossfire.

Cockfighting is Linked to Infectious Disease

There have been 15 introductions of virulent Newcastle Disease into the United States since 1950, 10 of which occurred via the illegal smuggling of gamecocks across the southern border from Mexico. (Virulent Newcastle disease is endemic in Mexico and all of Latin America.)

Just three of those outbreaks cost the federal government close to $1 billion. Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy released a comprehensive 62-page report on the links between cockfighting and avian influenza and virulent Newcastle Disease.

If you add it all up: animal fighting, illegal drugs, risk of disease, animal cruelty and murder and mayhem to human communities, you will see why we call animal fighting a community crime wave. But there is a remedy.

Congress Must Take up the FIGHT Act

We are working in Congress to speed the passage of the FIGHT Act (Fighting Inhumane Gambling and High-Risk Trafficking). It would enhance enforcement opportunities by banning simulcasting and gambling of animal fighting ventures; halting the shipment of mature roosters (chickens only) shipped through the U.S. mail (it is already illegal to ship dogs through the mail); creating a citizen suit provision after proper notice to federal authorities to allow private right of action against illegal animal fighters; and enhancing forfeiture provisions to include real property for animal fighting crimes. Read more here.

I consider passing the FIGHT Act in Congress as urgent a priority. The FIGHT Act also has more than 450 endorsing agencies and organizations, including 200 law enforcement agencies, the Small and Rural Law Enforcement Executive Association, the American Gaming Association, and the United Egg Producers.

Please join me and learn more about how you can help push this important anti-cruelty, anti-cruelty, and pro-agriculture legislation through Congress.

Our nation should have a zero-tolerance policy for cockfighting or dogfighting. To get there, we need strong laws and aggressive enforcement. And that goes for the Texas panhandle, too.

Wayne Pacelle is president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy. www.animalwellnessaction.org

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Another View: Amarillo cockfighting bust shows crime wave