Due to a grave shooting at a cockfight event in downtown Honolulu, the police have vowed to step up in enforcing and cracking down on illegal cockfights in the island.
Various animal rights activists and Oklahomans have called out Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt for showing support for the Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission. Many believe that the Commission is an organization that wants to legalize cockfighting in the state.
Several animal welfare organizations have dubbed Oklahoma as the “cockfighting capital of the United States.” The recent bird flu outbreaks in the state are said to be an effect of the rampant cockfighting derbies happening in Oklahoma.
Different Oklahoma state legislators have filed several bills in an attempt to legalize cockfighting in the state again or to minimize the punishments. Many Oklahomans agree on legalizing cockfighting once more, according to a poll ran by the Tahlequah Daily Press.
Lady Freethinker, a non-profit animal protection organization, has authored an online protection that seeks to increase protection for fighting roosters. The petition, addressed to two US government committees and Hawaiian legislators, has collected more than 20,000 signatures.
Roosevelt Curry, one of the seven men charged with illegal cockfighting operations in Dorchester County, South Carolina, was found guilty by the federal court in Charleston.
An alumni from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa created an oil painting titled Sabong, depicting a cockfight. The artwork was recently purchased by the Hawai’i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, and will be on public display throughout Hawai’i.
A property in San Jacinto County was raided by the SJCSO deputies after they received an animal cruelty report in the area. The deputies rounded up 19 men and seized numerous cockfighting effects.
In 2007, all 50 states in the U.S. banned cockfighting, citing it as an activity cruel to animals. In 2018, an amendment to the current Animal Welfare law was introduced: HR4202.