This campaign is growing and we are actively searching for cockfighting venues across the country and sharing that information with state authorities. In Kentucky alone, through both tips from the public and our own research, we have uncovered 10 cockfighting operations that have been allowed to violate the law due to local police turning a blind eye to them. That’s all changed now that SHARK is on the job!
SHARK is working with the Kentucky State Police (KSP) on shutting down all active cockfighting “pits,” that we find. This relationship has already proven to be successful, as the KSP recently shut down one major fighting pit we discovered and we just exposed 5 more locations that will be prevented from holding future cockfights.
We received a phone call from the owner of that cockfighting pit and, after we told him that cockfighting had been illegal for many years, he answered:
“Yep, but they wan’t bothering us till youse got involved.”
Think about how important that statement is: Cockfighters have been killing birds for years with no interference from the police, yet once SHARK started this campaign, everything changed. This shows just how effective SHARK’s work is!
SHARK undercover video from a KY cockfight
SHARK has been involved with cockfighting issues in IL and in CA since 2018. It started when we flew our drone over properties that were used for breeding and housing roosters used for fighting.
When we saw that many of these cockfighters were openly posting about their criminal behavior on Facebook, just as the father and son to the right had, we began a major effort to collect evidence on dozens of cockfighters, spanning 22 states. We are not able to talk about all these investigations, but we can tell you that, after we sent a detailed report to the Texas State Police about a large cockfighting operation called the Salinas Game Farm, we were told that arrests have been made and further investigations are ongoing! Having individual cockfighters charged for breaking the law represented extraordinary victories in our battle against cockfighting, but it was just the beginning.
We received a tip that a father and son cockfighting team in Kentucky (middle and right) were also law enforcement officers. We investigated them, collected evidence and we are proud to announce that both men have been charged and are awaiting trial for their crimes!
Left: Drone video showing cockfighters with a dead and living rooster at one cockfight. Right: Steve Hindi inside the cockfight that he busted up
Our initial campaign was covered in the news (right) as well as subsequent press releases we made, such as the shocking video of two Clay County Sheriff Deputies we filmed at a cockfight. These so-called officers of the law didn’t break up the cockfight, but instead socialized and joked with the cockfighters. This type of relationship between local police and illegal cockfighting is why these criminal organizations have been able to operate so openly in KY. The cockfighting season runs from November to late summer. We are about to be very busy shutting down these despicable fights.
Our video exposing Sheriff Deputies at a cockfight sent shockwaves throughout KY
This has been an incredibly complex and expensive effort. We mentioned our partners at the Humane Farming Association. They helped defray some of the costs of this campaign, allowing SHARK investigators to be on the ground, getting the job done. That, however, only covers a small part of what a campaign like this costs to run effectively.
We are going to need much more funding in order to fully carry out this massive effort, which includes extensive traveling across the county to shutdown cockfights wherever we find them.
If you are excited that SHARK has made such dramatic change in so short of a time, and shut down so many of these disgusting animal fighting pits, then support the Crush Cockfighting campaign with a generous donation now!
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