Your Summary of Our Latest Animal News and Information

A new undercover investigation by Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy follows the trafficking of fighting birds from breeding operations in the American heartland to major cockfighting derbies overseas — including the notorious World Slasher Cup in the Philippines. The details of this daring investigation expose how organized networks exploit gaps in federal law to ship U.S.-bred roosters into high-stakes international fighting circuits fueled by gambling and criminal syndicates. The findings underscore the urgency behind the organizations’ Animal Fighting Is the Pits campaign and their push for two key reforms — the FIGHT Act, H.R. 3946/S. 1454, and No Flight, No Fight Act, H.R. 7371 — to disrupt illicit domestic fighting activities and global trafficking. Read more here.
  Organized animal-fighting operations are not only acts of cruelty — they are criminal enterprises that endanger wildlife, public health, and lawful hunting traditions. In a new analysis by hunting and conservation writer Ted Williams, Animal Wellness Action details how staged dogfights and cockfights intersect with illegal gambling, environmental degradation, and threats to sporting communities. Williams makes a direct appeal to hunters and environmentalists to help advance the bipartisan FIGHT Act, legislation designed to close enforcement loopholes and dismantle these networks. Read more here about why broader coalition support is urgently needed.

• A political and cultural showdown is escalating in Puerto Rico over enforcement of the federal cockfighting ban, with territorial leaders continuing to defy federal law and ignore the clear directives of Congress and the federal courts. Their stance comes even after federal courts have ruled against them and affirmed the authority of the United States to prohibit animal fighting on every inch of U.S. soil, including in Puerto Rico. Animal Wellness Action was the architect of the federal legislation — the Parity in Animal Cruelty Enforcement (PACE) Act — that extended all prohibitions against animal fighting to the U.S. territories from the Caribbean to the western Pacific. Coverage of the latest advocacy by legislators to encourage disobedience to settled law in the Barbados Times illustrates gaps in enforcement we are working to plug through an array of features of our Animal Fighting Is the Pits campaign. Read the story here.
• The grim reality that American horses continue to be funneled into the global slaughter trade is the focus of a new feature in The Good Men Project. The piece echoes concerns long raised by Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy about the transport and killing of U.S. horses for foreign meat markets — advocacy that underpins federal efforts to ban horse slaughter and end the export pipeline altogether. Read the story here.
• Debate over the next Farm Bill is reopening conflict around state farm-animal welfare laws, including California’s Prop 12. As detailed by Agri-Pulse, industrial agriculture interests are again pressing Congress to override voter-approved farm-animal-welfare standards through their advocacy of the Save Our Bacon Act. We are fighting this with all we have. Read the story here. (Trial or subscription required.)
• Sheriffs and prosecutors are urging Congress to strengthen federal anti-fighting statutes, citing links between animal fighting, narcotics, weapons trafficking, and community violence. As reported by USA TODAY, Animal Wellness Action President Wayne Pacelle underscores that animal fighting rarely exists in isolation but instead fuels broader criminal networks — reinforcing the urgency behind the FIGHT Act and related enforcement reforms long championed by the organization. Read the story here.

Join Animal Wellness Action in urging Congress to reinforce federal protections against organized animal fighting by advancing the bipartisan FIGHT Act. The measure would prohibit online wagering on dogfights and cockfights, halt the shipment of fighting animals through the U.S. Postal Service, and equip law enforcement — along with citizen plaintiffs — with stronger authorities to dismantle these criminal enterprises. Ask your two U.S. senators and your U.S. representative to cosponsor this critical legislation today. Take action now. 

Hog factory farmers continue their decade-old campaign in Congress to attack the authority of the states to establish farm animal welfare policies. The so-called Save Our Bacon (SOB) Act, which seeks to invalidate California’s Prop 12 and Massachusetts’ Question 3, is included in the latest draft of the Farm Bill released in the House. The SOB Act would unwind immensely popular laws that that set baseline standards for the humane treatment of farm animals. We are calling on you to help us beat back this attempt to turn the clock back on animal welfare and enable China’s Smithfield Foods to expand its factory farming footprint in the United States. We are joined in this effort by many federal lawmakers, thousands of farmers, and an array of other consumer, animal welfare, and environmental organizations. Go here today. 

Our work exposes cruelty through investigations and research and analysis, putting a public spotlight on animal exploitation, advancing policy solutions, and promoting enforcement of legal standards — is part of a strategic, coordinated effort to protect animals. Your donation fuels that work and helps turn advocacy, investigation, and education into real, lasting change for animals. Go here to support our campaigns.

The Animal Wellness Podcast. Dogfighting is not a cruelty of the past — organized networks still operate nationwide, leaving severely abused animals in urgent need of specialized care. In this episode, host Joseph Grove speaks with Mac’s Mission founder Rochelle Steffen about the frontline realities of rehabilitating survivors and the parallel push for stronger federal enforcement through the FIGHT Act. Listen for a concise but powerful look at how rescue work and public policy intersect to combat organized animal cruelty. Listen to the show here.