“Major developments” on FIGHT Act––& major cockfighting busts

Congressional progress blocked by House Agriculture Committee chair Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson,  who is also pushing the Donald Trump administration-backed “SOB Act” to overturn protections for factory-farmed pigs & chickens

WASHINGTON D.C.––The first week of March 2026 “brought major developments on the long-delayed Farm bill,  inside the House Agriculture Committee,”  assessed Animal Wellness Action and Center for a Humane Economy president Wayne Pacelle,  one of which developments was that “The committee did not readily adopt the core provisions of the FIGHT Act,  offered as an amendment to the Farm Bill by one of the FIGHT Act’s original co-sponsors,  Representative Shri Thanedar,”  a Democrat from Michigan.

The Fighting Inhumane Gambling and High-Risk Trafficking Act,  or FIGHT Act “would ban online gambling on animal fights,  allow courts to seize fighting pit bulls and other property used by convicted animal fighters in the commission of their crimes,  stop the shipment of fighting roosters through the mail,”  and allow animal advocates to “bring civil suits against cockfighters and dogfighters when governmental authorities are too slow to act,” reminded Pacelle.

“Along with Thanedar,”  Pacelle mentioned,  Representative Don Bacon,  a Republican from Nebraska  also spoke in support of the FIGHT Act,  as did other co-sponsors.

Thompson at odds with law enforcement in his own Pennsylvania district

“Unfortunately,”  Pacelle continued,  “Agriculture Committee chairman Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson,”  a Republican from Pennsylvania,  “used scaremongering tactics and an obvious misreading of the law and the FIGHT provisions to strip out three of four of the amendment’s components,  using a procedural maneuver that had not been invoked by the committee in years.”

Thompson is also pressing to include the “Save Our Bacon,”  or “SOB Act” in the Farm Bill,  which would prohibit individual states from regulating farmed animal welfare in a manner that excludes animal products and byproducts from sale if produced in states with lower animal welfare standards.

“Chairman Thompson falsely claimed the FIGHT Act would add farm animals to the Animal Welfare Act for the first time,”  Pacelle said.

“In doing so,  he put himself at odds with 15 sheriffs and district attorneys from his own congressional district who asked him to support the FIGHT Act,  as well as the Pennsylvania Sheriffs’ Association,  Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association,  Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police,  and nearly 1,100 other endorsing organizations nationwide, representing law enforcement, commercial agriculture, and animal welfare.

But language to ban online gambling on animal fights advanced

“One provision of the FIGHT Act did get adopted into the Farm Bill,”  Pacelle acknowledged.  “In the end,  the committee approved language to ban gambling on animal fights,  both in-person and online.”

Pacelle pledged to “continue making the arguments with lawmakers on the merits to restore” all  provisions of the FIGHT Act,  along with working to exclude the SOB Act from the Farm Bill.

Meanwhile,  a February 26,  2026 bulletin from Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy underscored the need for the FIGHT Act,  to reinforce the existing federal legislation against cockfights.

Mexican drug cartel involvement

The February 22,  2026 death by Mexican government gunfire of Nemesio ‘El Mencho’ Oseguera Cervantes,  50,  heading the Jalisco New Generation Cartel,”  Pacelle noted,  “brought to light the ruthless drug lord’s obsession with cockfighting.  Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy have conducted a running series of investigations that have revealed the illicit commerce between U.S.-based cockfighters and Mexican cartels that control animal fighting venues in that country.

Oseguera Cervantes was nicknamed “El Señor de los Gallos, ” meaning “The Lord of the Roosters,”  due to his deep involvement in cockfighting,”  Pacelle said.

After Oseguera Cervantes’ death,  Pacelle noted,  “cartel members across dozens of Mexican states staged widespread retaliatory attacks,  burning vehicles,  blocking roads,  and targeting security forces and civilians alike.  At least 74 people have been killed.

“In November 2024,”  Pacelle recounted,  “U.S. authorities arrested Cristian Fernando Gutierrez-Ochoa, son-in-law of ‘El Mencho,’  in Riverside, Caliornia,  accusing him of drug trafficking and money laundering.   Gutierrez Ochoa was also deeply involved in cockfighting.”

World Slasher Cup

Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy,  partnering with Showing Animals Respect & Kindness,  have in recent years worked to expose the loopholes in existing federal anti-cockfighting legislation that continue to make the U.S. cockfighting industry a clandestine big business,  frequently adjunct to other organized crime.

“In January 2026,”  Pacelle said,  “Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy had investigators at the World Slasher Cup,”  in the Philippines,  “and documented American cockfighters there,  illegally transporting their birds for combat there and illegally selling their birds.

“The top two destinations for U.S.-reared fighting birds are Mexico and the Philippines,”  Pacelle said,  “where cockfighting pits are typically controlled by organized crime syndicates,”  often with local law enforcement complicit.”

Ex-sheriff charged in Oklahoma

In Oklahoma,  for instance,  “Former McIntosh County sheriff Jeff Coleman has been charged with felony animal cruelty by Cherokee Nation attorney general Chad Harsha for allegedly organizing a cockfighting derby on Cherokee Nation land in June 2025,”  Pacelle mentioned.

“The charges stem directly from undercover video evidence gathered by Center for a Humane Economy investigators,”  Pacelle said.

“Coleman is now the third major figure charged in the wake of our undercover operation at this cockfighting pit.  Authorities previously charged Anthony Devore,  former president of the Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission,  and Blake Pearce, the group’s vice president,  for participating in the same event after our investigator documented them at the derby.”

(See OK Gamefowl Commission dissolved, top cock Devore criminally charged.)

Texas bust

Showing Animals Respect & Kindness,  meanwhile,  helped to set up a March 8,  2026 cockfighting bust in the unincorporated Cleburne area of Johnson County,  Texas.

“When deputies arrived on scene,”  the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office said in a media release,  “they located evidence consistent with an active cockfighting operation.

“Investigators discovered several deceased gamecocks and four live gamecocks suffering from severe injuries believed to be consistent with fighting.  Deputies also located and documented a constructed fighting ring used for the illegal activity.

“During the investigation,”  the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office media release continued,  “one suspect,”  identified as Nicandro Mora of Waxahachie, Texas,  “attempted to evade law enforcement in a vehicle but was subsequently taken into custody,  charged with cockfighting, evading arrest with a vehicle,  and multiple counts of cruelty to animals.”

The impounded gamecocks were “transported and housed at the Humane Society of North Texas,”  in Fort Worth,  “pending the outcome of a seizure hearing,”  the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office said.

Questionable excuses

The Cleburne bust capped several weeks of frequent frustration for Showing Animals Respect & Kindness [SHARK],  whose drones repeatedly uncovered cockfighting around Texas,  only to have law enforcement not only fail to make arrests but make questionable excuses for not responding.

At least one cockfighting derby documented by Showing Animals Respect & Kindness was conducted right out in the open,  fully visible from the air at a distance sufficient that the SHARK drone was neither seen nor heard by as many as a hundred participants.

On February 28,  2026,  Showing Animals Respect & Kindness founder Steve Hindi wrote to Ector County sheriff Mike Griffs,  “based on information received,  my associate Jodie Wiederkehr called your office to report an illegal cockfight in West Odessa. Ms. Wiederkehr spoke with a dispatcher named Iliana,  who said deputies would be sent to the property.

“When Ms. Wiederkehr called back approximately a half hour later,  a dispatcher named Amy told her that there were three major car crashes, including fatalities,  and that all of your units were busy,  but once there was a unit available they would send officers to the cockfight location.

“Capitulation”

“Interestingly,  when we searched for serious motor vehicle collisions,  none were listed near the Odessa area,”  a fact ANIMALS 24-7 verified.

“When Ms. Wiederkehr called again around 9:00 p.m.,”  Hindi continued,  “Iliana stated that there were ‘higher priority’ calls.

“Deputy Ligon called Ms. Wiederkehr later in the evening and made it clear that nothing would be done about the cockfight location which we have now twice reported to your office.  This isn’t merely a failure to deal with ongoing criminal activity,  it is capitulation.

“I want to make clear,”  Hindi stated,  “that those we hold responsible are not the street cops who responded to our call during the last cockfight in December 2025.

“ Clearly those responding officers were ready and willing to do their job. The problem with your department is further up the ladder.”

Hindi requested “an internal investigation into the inaction of your office.”

Tyler County

County sheriffs doing little or nothing in response to tips about cockfights in progress have been an almost continuous issue throughout the now seven-year-old Showing Animals “Crush cockfighting” campaign,  a theme evident in Titus County,  Texas in 2025,  and earlier in 2026 surfacing in Tyler County,  Texas,  with eventually somewhat more satisfactory results.

Emailed Hindi on February 11,  2026 to Tyler County sheriff Bryan Weatherford,  “On January 31,  2026,  “a SHARK drone recorded an illegal cockfight at 5057 County Rd 3325, Colmesneil,  Texas.  The [GPS] coordinates for the pit are 31.0022, -94.3834

“The Tyler County Sheriff’s Office was called – your office,”  Hindi wrote.

“My associate Mike Kobliska initially spoke with Sergeant Chase Nalley.  Then I spoke with Sergeant Nalley a few times.

“Sergeant Nalley ended up telling me that your office did not have the resources to stop the cockfight that day,  but that it would be dealt with going forward,”  Hindi recounted.

“To support the efforts of your office,  I subsequently provided Sergeant Nalley with links to video evidence of the cockfight,”  but instead of seeing the sheriff’s office respond,  call-backs got the runaround.

Sheriff claimed drone use was illegal

Replied Weatherford,   “You mentioned that using a SHARK drone,  illegal activity (cockfighting) was recorded at 5057 CR 3325 in Colmesneil, Texas.

“While it is legal to fly a drone,”  Weatherford said,  “it is illegal to record someone’s private property with a drone if you have the intent to conduct surveillance without their consent.  The act of capturing the image/images with intent to conduct surveillance is a Class C misdemeanor,  punishable by a fine of up to $500.  This evidence was captured by violating the law and will most likely be deemed as inadmissible evidence.”

That might have sounded intimidating to someone unaware that Showing Animals Respect & Kindness drone video had already been used many times in Texas,  successfully,  to obtain warrants used in cockfighting raids by law enforcement,  bringing criminal charges that have so far stood up.

(See Cockfight exposed in Ferris, Texas, with drone video of the actual fighting,  200 to 300 cockfighters flee Athens, Texas bust, leaving 29 cars behind,  and Cockfighters got coal for Christmas from Houston, Texas to Karnataka, India.)

Obituary mentioned “raising game birds”

Weatherford continued for another 234 words detailing the requirements for obtaining legally admissible evidence in a cockfighting prosecution,  all of it pertaining to requirements that Showing Animals Respect & Kindness has met in helping to make dozens of other cases against alleged cockfighters,  not only in Texas but from California to North Carolina,  Alabama to Michigan.

Weatherford,  “born and raised in Tyler County,”  he boasts in campaign literature,  along with “35 years of service to Tyler County,”  including 14 years as sheriff,  might have been expected to already know about the alleged Colmesneil cockpit,  located about 14 miles from his office.

The site,  according to Tyler County property records,  belongs to Gay Nell Gehrels-Brown,  widow of Paul “Bunyan” Jefferson Brown,  64,  of Rockland,  Texas,  who died on December 17,  2021.

Brown also “was a lifelong resident of Tyler County,  who according to his obituary “enjoyed raising game birds,”  as well as “coon hunting.”

But Steve Hindi was a lot happier with Weatherford on March 9,  2026,  when he told ANIMALS 24-7 that the sheriff’s office had visited the property,  that a person believed to be Gay Nell Gehrels-Brown had acknowledged having hosted cockfights,  and that according to Weatherford she had promised not to do it again.

“On March 6,  2026,  we were informed of an arrest,”  Hindi updated later.  “To our knowledge Gay Gehrels is still in jail.”

Honest Abe’s,  again

In addition to the Showing Animals Respect & Kindness drone operations in Texas,  Steve Hindi  said, “we had multiple teams in multiple states tracking down the illegal pits. Oklahoma, New Mexico,  Kentucky and Tennessee were also on our radar.

“We contacted the Kentucky State Police about three cockfight pits,”  Steve Hindi specified,  on the first weekend of March 2026.

“The most notable pit was the Honest Abe’s pit in McCreary County,”  at 303 Low Gap Road,  in Pine Knot,  a location at which Showing Animals Respect & Kindness has documented cockfights every year since 2020.

(See KY State Police Post 11 shows how not to bust a cockfight, charges SHARK.)

“A SHARK drone flew over the property that night,”  Steve Hindi recounted.  “Although the cockfight was over,  an infrared camera detected the temperature differences of the ground where the sun hit,  versus the area shaded by vehicles,  resulting in remarkable evidence that the illegal cockfight was a large gathering,”  attracting more than 100 cars and pickup trucks.

“Did nothing to stop it”

“Unfortunately,  the Kentucky State Police,”  Steve Hindi said,  despite having advance notice,  “did nothing to stop it.

“So the decades-long criminal run of Honest Abe’s pit remains intact,”  Steve Hindi complained.  “This in spite of past aerial video showing live birds being brought into the building,  and dead and dying birds being brought out,  as well as undercover video inside the pit,”  showing “numerous children” present during cockfights.

“We also contacted the Kentucky State Police regarding a cockpit outside of Brownsville,”  Steve Hindi said.  “The state police did show up at the pit,  but there was nothing happening.

“What was interesting about that is what was subsequently posted by Tracy Richardson,  who apparently runs the pit.”

Richardson on social media “accused our source of being a cockfighter,  calling the individual ‘ disgrace to the brotherhood of cockers.’

“Richardson’s post confirms that he is a cockfighter,  and that his pit is active,”  Steve Hindi assessed.

Troopers disclosed name of complainant

“Also of concern,”  Steve Hindi mentioned,  “is that the troopers who visited Richardson gave him an opportunity to view their laptop computer. Richardson stated,  ‘I saw the screen on the trooper’s laptop.  It stated that Eva Hindi of the SHARK organization called them on a tip.’”

Eva Hindi,  a SHARK employee,  is one of Steve Hindi’s adult daughters.

Steve Hindi recommended “that there be discussion with the responding trooper(s) to ensure that our information not be disseminated to criminals going forward.”

In addition,  Hindi said,  “We contacted the Kentucky State Police regarding a cockfight pit in Floyd County.  We call it the Combs pit because it is run by Lance Combs,”  Steve Hindi alleged,  whose Facebook page as of March 10,  2026 displayed multiple roosters.

“This is not the first time we have called about the Combs pit,  which has yet to be busted,”  Steve Hindi said.

California busts

The Animal Wellness Action and Center for a Humane Economy activity against cockfighting,  and the Showing Animals Respect & Kindness investigations,  backed in part by the Humane Farming Association,  of San Rafael,  California,  appear to have stimulated law enforcement efforts against cockfighters elsewhere,  including in California and Louisiana.

The Sonoma County,  California sheriff’s office and Sonoma County Animal Services on February 25,  2026 reported impounding 833 roosters from a location in Santa Rosa,  arresting Saul Villalobos-Delacruz,  30,   “on suspicion of animal abuse and other charges related to bird fighting.”

Ten days later,  Santa Barbara County sheriff’s detectives and Santa Barbara County Animal Services impounded 58 gamefowl from two addresses near Lompoc,  along with alleged cockfighting paraphernalia.

“No arrests have been made,  and the investigation remains ongoing.  The seized birds are currently being housed at the county’s animal shelter while the case proceeds,”  reported Ella Heydenfeldt for the Santa Barbara Independent.

Louisiana bust

On March 8,  2026 in St. Landry Parish,  Louisiana,  reported Scott Yoshonis for KLFY in Lafayette,  “About 60 people were arrested and 70 roosters seized in a major raid on a cockfight near Opelousas, authorities said.

“John Eddie Lachapelle,  36,  of Opelousas,  whom officials described as ‘the property owner and principal organizer of the cockfight event,’  is charged with cockfighting,  possession of Schedule II drugs and illegal carrying of weapons in the presence of crime or drugs.”

The bust came,  St. Landry Parish sheriff Bobby Guidroz told Yoshonis,  came in response to said an anonymous tip about a cockfight in progress.

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