Backed by Humane World for Animals, ALDF, & San Diego Humane Society, AB 928 has been heavily amended on alleged behalf of cockfighters, charges Humane Farming Association
SACRAMENTO, California––The California legislature is on the verge of legalizing keeping and breeding roosters for cockfighting on a commercial scale, warns the Humane Farming Association, through a bill, AB 928, sponsored by Humane World for Animals, formerly the Humane Society of the United States.
Passed by the California state assembly on June 18, 2025 by a vote of 46-15, AB 928 is now before the California state senate agriculture and judiciary committees.
AB 928 also endorsed by poultry industry
In addition to Humane World for Animals support, AB 928 is endorsed by the Animal Legal Defense Fund and the San Diego Humane Society, according to the California state assembly judiciary committee bill analysis.
All three organizations appear to be oblivious to the potential effects of a series of disabling amendments that in effect reversed the original intent of AB 928.
(See https://legiscan.com/CA/text/AB928/id/3250318.)
AB 928 “also enjoys support from the California Poultry Federation and the California Farm Bureau,” the California state assembly judiciary committee bill analysis adds.
“Self-defeating loopholes”
“California Assembly Bill 928 was an acceptable measure because it had some modest yet reasonable restrictions on roosters,” Humane Farming Association chief investigator Gail Eisnitz on June 26, 2025 advised Showing Animals Respect & Kindness founder Steve Hindi and Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy.
Hindi and Pacelle are respectively the longtime U.S. national leaders in cockfighting investigation and pursuing anti-cockfighting legislation.
“The new bill, in addition to have self-defeating loopholes,” Eisnitz pointed out, “now explicitly allows up to 25 fighting birds per person. The birds aren’t even called roosters anymore. They are referred to as game fowl.”
“Supporters are unknowingly supporting a corrupted bill”
Humane World for Animals “totally corrupted the bill by allowing the cockfighters to amend it,” Eisnitz charged.
The Humane Farming Association “is opposing the bill as amended,” Eisnitz said.
Humane World for Animals “did not share with the supporters listed on the sponsor’s fact sheet that the bill had been amended, and the supporters are unknowingly supporting a corrupted bill,” Eisnitz added.
As introduced, explained Evan Symon, senior editor of the “pro-growth and pro-business” California Globe on April 8, 2025, AB 928, “authored by assemblyman Chris Rogers,” a Democrat representing Santa Rosa in Sonoma County, would have prohibited “keeping or raising more than three roosters per acre,” but this was amended to also allow “25 roosters total on any property,” with “a long list of exemptions for rooster holders with commercial poultry operations, poultry hobbyists, schools, animal agencies, and Future Farmers Association and 4H projects.”
Rogers, according to Symon, “wrote the bill in February 2025 to both help fight against the practice of cockfighting and help control avian flu, the latter of which caused egg prices to skyrocket.”
“Three largest cockfighting seizures in U.S. history were in California”
Rogers promoted AB 928, Symond mentioned, by noting that “The three largest cockfighting seizures in U.S. history were all recently in California. This included a Ceres man sentenced to 16 months in prison in 2022 for selling gamefowl after federal agents found nearly 3,000 birds on his property. While cockfighting is a difficult crime to enforce because officers must prove intent,” Symond acknowledged, “Rogers hopes that AB 928 can help bring back some enforcement.”
As amended, AB 928 disables enforcement except when and if police and/or sheriff’s deputies actually discover a cockfight in progress.
Explained attorney Lily Rivo of Greenfire Law in Berkeley, California, in a June 24, 2025 analysis sent to legislators on behalf of Humane Farming Association, in amended form “The bill explicitly allows the rearing of ‘gamefowl’ – also known as birds specifically raised for fighting.
“Stakeholders wish to continue breeding fighting birds”
“We understand that the amendments were accepted in order to remove opposition from ‘stakeholders,” Rivo began.
“Reality is that the stakeholders in question are those who wish to continue breeding fighting birds in California.”
Both “The original and amended versions of AB 928 suffer from critical structural weaknesses that impair the bill’s ability to prevent cockfighting operations,” Rivo wrote.
“The introduced amendments narrow definitions, introduce exemptions, and create new avenues for evasion, while the statute’s persistent reliance on subjective intent remains its most fundamental flaw. This reliance on good-faith intent allows persons to circumvent liability.
“The cumulative effect of these issues leaves significant enforcement gaps, effectively undermining the purpose of the Cockfighting Cruelty Act.”
Narrowed definitions of “rooster” & “gamefowl”
Specifically, “Amendments narrowing definitions of ‘rooster’ and ‘gamefowl’ allow circumvention through [keeping] younger birds, mutilation, [keeping] crossbreeds not typically notorious for cockfighting, and other technicalities.
“Breeding operations for fighting birds can persist through minimally creative evasion such as multiple ‘persons’ each keeping 25 birds on one parcel or property.
“Undefined terms like ‘long-term housing,’ ‘exhibition,’ and ‘person’ create interpretive ambiguity and further weaken the bill’s enforceability.
“Collectively, these gaps leave concerning opportunities for bad actors to operate while masked by performative compliance,” Rivo said, “perpetuating the state’s frustration in targeting cockfighting.”
Key provision against cockfighting was struck
As amended, Rivo detailed, AB 928 would require that, to be legally considered a rooster, “a male chicken must meet all the following: six months of age, full adult plumage, capable of crowing, [and] not a bantam.”
Further, Rivo said, the amendments to AB 928 “Removed original language excluding those who do not supply birds for cockfighting,” so that the bill “fails to address indirect involvement from actors who may engage in certain aspects of cockfighting operations but not all.”
“The original bill excluded those who ‘do not breed or raise poultry for purposes of making them available for cockfighting,”’ Rivo noted, “but in the amended version, this provision was struck. Striking this language may allow individuals who indirectly contribute to cockfighting to avoid scrutiny. This amendment may create a loophole that undermines enforcement.”
Humane World for Animals has history of passing corrupted legislation
Humane World for Animals, formerly the Humane Society of the U.S., has considerable recent history of generating strong grassroots support for purported stronger state humane laws, then failing to slam on the brakes when the original introduced versions of those laws are corrupted through amendment into laws that actually weaken existing humane legislation––and then proclaiming “victory” when the disabling laws are passed.
(SHARK photo)
Legalized pigeon shoots
Libre’s Law, for example, pushed by both the Humane Society of the U.S. and Humane Pennsylvania, in 2017 provided felony penalties for cruelty offenses prosecuted an average of barely more than a dozen times a year, typically involving only a few animals per case, at cost of specifically exempting pigeon shoots from prosecution for cruelty to animals.
(See Biggest pigeon shoots in years follow Pennsylvania cruelty law exemption.)
Pigeon shoots held around a dozen times per year in Pennsylvania typically kill and maim from 1,000 to 10,000 birds each, as repeatedly documented by Showing Animals Respect & Kindness drone investigations of venues including the Philadelphia Gun Club, where pigeon shoot participants often include prominent elected officials.
Vermont puppy mill bill
Also in 2017, Humane Society of the U.S. lobbyist Barry Londeree pushed to passage Vermont state bill H. 218, which reduced the cage space allocated to many dogs in breeding kennels by from half to 75%.
(See Update: Vermont Gov Scott signs HSUS bill to cut puppy mill cage sizes.)
Introduced by Hartland state representative John Bartholomew, DVM, a Democrat who formerly supervised animal care in research laboratories, H. 218 was opposed by Vermont Volunteers for Animals founder Sue Skaskiw and Colchester veterinarian Peggy Larson––who only learned of the cage size provisions of the bill after it was already passed.
Both Skaskiw and Larson, a former USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service veterinarian before becoming a longtime high-volume spay/neuter provider, now retired, were veterans of more than 30 years of Vermont humane law enforcement.
Londeree, according to his LinkedIn resumé, had less than two years of experience in humane work of any sort.
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Epic failures on the part of those who should know what they’re doing by now. It’s not enough to present a bill; we’ve all learned how critical it is to monitor the amendments before claiming any victory. I can’t imagine what they were thinking when they continued supporting the bills through to passage while aware of the changes. That was totally irresponsible.
The newly rebranded “Humane World for Animals” is already tarnished by the old CEO’s corrupt choices. New LEADERSHIP is needed.