‘Cauldrons of crime.’ Cockfighting, common in Kentucky, would become felony under bill
Cockfighting would become a felony crime in Kentucky under a bill pending in the state Senate.
It is a felony in the state to cause dogs to fight, but Kentucky remains one of just seven states where it is only a misdemeanor at the state level to cause gamecocks to fight.
Animal-welfare advocates have argued that is one reason cockfighting, a brutal activity in which roosters slash each other with sharp metal implements attached to their legs, has persisted in Kentucky.
Senate Bill 243 would bring all animals under the definition of first-degree cruelty to animals that now applies to dogs. The crime is a Class D felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
Republican state Sen. Greg Elkins introduced the bill. Elkins, of Winchester, represents Clark, Montgomery, Bath and Menifee counties and part of Fayette County.
“This bill is an important part of safeguarding our reputation as a commonwealth,” Elkins said in a news release. “For too long, animal fights have served as cauldrons of crime in Kentucky.”
The Kentucky Association of Chiefs of Police and the Kentucky Sheriffs Association support the bill, according to the news release.
Shawn Butler, executive director of the chiefs association, said the organization backs the proposal not just because animal fighting is cruel and wrong, but because cockfighting typically breeds other crime as well.
Those include drug trafficking, gambling and assaults.
“It’s basically organized crime,” Butler said. “It becomes a problem for communities.”
Cockfighting is a felony under federal law and there have been several federal prosecutions in Kentucky in recent years.
But making it a felony under state law as well would give police another tool to go after the illegal activity, Butler said.
According to a summary, Elkins’ bill would make it a felony to knowingly cause an animal to engage in fighting; to keep, train, sell or otherwise transfer an animal for the purpose of fighting; and to participate in the organization, operation, or promotion of an animal fight.
The bill also would make it a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail, to be a spectator or vendor at an animal fight or to cause or allow a minor to attend a fight.
“This legislation will stop our children from being exposed to animal abuse and other violent crimes at an early age,” Elkins said.
The bill specifies that legal hunting and falconry are not violations of the law.
Cockfighting has been common in parts of Kentucky for decades, and animal-welfare groups have said the state has been a hot spot for fights and for production of gamecocks to ship overseas.
The news release on SB 243 noted that the Animal Legal Defense Fund ranked Kentucky as having among the weakest animal protection laws in the U.S.
The state’s ranking in 2023 was 46th, ahead of only North Dakota, Alabama — where the top penalty for state cockfighting conviction is a $50 fine — Idaho and South Carolina, the organization said.
