Kentucky State Police have failed to investigate cockfighting complaints, groups charge
A coalition of animal-welfare groups have charged that Kentucky State Police have failed to investigate numerous credible tips about cockfighting in the state in recent years.
Steve Hindi, president of Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK), said his organization had given information to state police such as schedules of upcoming cockfights and undercover videos showing the activity — and called during the events to report them — but in most cases the agency did not respond to the fights.
The lack of enforcement is allowing illegal activity to continue unchecked, said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action.
“These activities are persisting because these people think they can get away with it,” Pacelle said during a video news conference Wednesday.
In a letter, Animal Wellness Action and SHARK called for an investigation of “repeated failures” by state police to enforce the law against cockfighting.
Nearly 50 other organizations across the U.S. signed on to the request.
The letter was addressed to Gov. Andy Beshear, Attorney General Daniel Cameron and Kerry Harvey, head of the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet. The news conference was to announce the letter.
State police said in response that the agency “investigates complaints and tips regarding illegal activity to the fullest extent.”
“Some of the actions taken by KSP regarding cockfighting complaints include saturated patrols in an attempt to identify criminal activity, site visits to alleged cockfighting events and full case investigations resulting in criminal indictments,” the agency said in its statement. “KSP will continue to enforce the laws of the commonwealth.”
The statement included links to releases about more than 15 cockfighting cases in which KSP was involved.
The cases ultimately were handled in federal court, where cockfighting is a felony.
Krista Buckel, spokesperson for Cameron, said once the office receives the letter it will review it “to determine next steps.”
SHARK and Animal Wellness Action have identified Kentucky as a hotspot for cockfighting and for operations that breed fighting roosters and ship them across the country and internationally.
Pacelle said a person familiar with the activity told SHARK there might be as many as 100 cockfighting pits in Kentucky, many of them in the eastern half of the state.
Kentucky is one of the five worst states for the activity, he said.
“Such extensive animal-fighting infrastructure and capacity is itself an indictment of the KSP and a testament to its failure to investigate crimes and enforce the law,” the animal groups said in the letter to state officials.
Roosters in cockfights are outfitted with sharp implements called gaffs. The fights often leave birds dead or maimed.
Video and photos that SHARK secretly shot at cockfights showed young children in attendance in an environment that can include drug activity and guns being traded, Hindi said.
That should be a particular concern for state police, he said.
“When are you gonna help these kids and keep them out of these criminal operations?” Hindi said.
Aside from cruelty to animals, cockfighting routinely involves other crime such as gambling and drug trafficking, and risks spreading bird flu that could hurt the economy, Pacelle said.
There also is a potential for violence, Pacelle said, pointing to a recent deadly shooting at a cockfight in Hawaii.
The letter to Beshear and Cameron mentioned “possible corruption” in seeking an outside agency to investigate KSP’s alleged lack of enforcement of cockfighting.
Pacelle said during the news conference that the groups have no specific information about payoffs, but inaction by KSP “causes major questions for us.”
He acknowledged there are a lot of other crimes and police are busy. But SHARK has provided numerous reports about on-going illegal activities, creating plenty of chances to act, he said.
Kentucky is one of only eight states where cockfighting is a misdemeanor at the state level. That’s no reason for police to not enforce the law vigorously, he said.
“All were asking them to do is their job,” he said.
This story was originally published April 19, 2023 at 5:13 PM.
