Animal Wellness Action Issues Statement About Raid at Cockfighting Operation in Nevada’s Lyon County

Organization applauds sheriff’s office and calls for stronger federal law to deter animal fighting and burden on law enforcement and animal shelters

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, UNITED STATES, June 4, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- Today, Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy issued a statement applauding Lyon County sheriff’s deputies for raiding a cockfighting operation with roosters with knives fitted on their legs in the midst of fights.

According to preliminary reporters, there were 59 birds dead birds at the site, a larger number of birds still alive, and several alleged perpetrators apprehended. The investigation is continuing, according to authorities.

Animal Wellness Action offers $2,500 to tipsters whose information results in the arrest and conviction of a perpetrator. Citizens with information can email us at animalcrueltytips@animalwellnessaction.org.

Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action, issued the following statement:

“We applaud Lyon County sheriffs’ deputies for their work to raid a major cockfighting operation in progress, apprehend participants, and spare more birds the inevitable fate of being hacked to death in a fighting pit. Cockfighting is not only barbaric, but also bound up with illegal gambling, narcotics trafficking, and other criminal activities. Cockfighters need to understand that when they decide to violate our anti-cruelty laws, there can be life-changing consequences.”

Eric Sakach, an animal-fighting consultant with Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy, a national court-certified expert on animal fighting, and a native northern Nevada, also weighed in on the enforcement action:

“Nevada’s anti-animal fighting law allows for felony-level penalties for people who stage fights between animals. The only way that law enforcement can interdict these crimes is if citizens alert them to these spectacles of animal cruelty. Kudos to law enforcement and to concerned citizens. We offer our services to support the prosecution of all individuals involved.”

Both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate have issued the Fighting Inhumane Gambling and High-Risk Trafficking (FIGHT) Act, and the authors hope to include the provision as an amendment to the Farm bill.

Both pieces of legislation were driven by concerns for the barbarism of animal fighting, other criminal behavior comingled with it, and disease threats to poultry posed by transporting fighting roosters.

Reps. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., Dina Titus, D-Nev., and Susie Lee, D-Nev., are cosponsors of H.R. 2742. Rep. Steve Horsford, D-Nev., is not a cosponsor yet, and neither of Nevada’s two U.S. Senators, Jackie Rosen nor Catherine Cortez Masto, both Democrats, have cosponsored S. 1529, introduced in early May by Senators Cory Booker, D-N.J., and John Kennedy, R-Louisiana.

The FIGHT Act, amending Section 26 of the Animal Welfare Act, would enhance the 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.

ABOUT
Animal Wellness Action is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(4) whose mission is to help animals by promoting laws and regulations at federal, state and local levels that forbid cruelty to all animals. The group also works to enforce existing anti-cruelty and wildlife protection laws. Animal Wellness Action believes helping animals helps us all. Twitter: @AWAction_News

Center for a Humane Economy is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(3) whose mission is to help animals by helping forge a more humane economic order. The first organization of its kind in the animal protection movement, the Center encourages businesses to honor their social responsibilities in a culture where consumers, investors, and other key stakeholders abhor cruelty and the degradation of the environment and embrace innovation as a means of eliminating both. The Center believes helping animals helps us all. Twitter: @TheHumaneCenter

Joseph Grove
ANIMAL WELLNESS ACTION
+1 502-472-6225
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