Detectives found fighting birds and a ring, and a training dummy at the Florida home
Lee County, FL — Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy today applauded the Lee County Sheriff’s Office for arresting a man who was running a cockfighting ring in the backyard of a home on Texas Road in Lehigh Acres, Fla.
“We applaud Lee County Sheriff’s detectives who dismantled this barbaric and criminal cockfighting ring,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action, which is leading a national campaign against staged animal fighting. “Animal fighting is a felony in Florida and it is bound up with other crimes degrading the safety of our communities.”
Detectives found six hens and five roosters, a training dummy, a fighting ring, along with training mitts, a weight sling, a digital scale, rubber bands, surgical tape and more at 127 Texas Road.
A police report says 54-year-old Carlos Antonio Alvarez, “trained, owned, and bred a domestic animal for cockfighting.”
Pacelle’s groups are at the forefront of passing the Fighting Inhumane Gambling and High-Risk Trafficking (FIGHT) Act to crack down on the barbaric and lawless practices of dogfighting and cockfighting.
U.S. Representatives Aaron Bean, R-4th; Michael Bilirakis, R-9th; Vern Buchanan, R-16th; Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-20th; Rep Anna Paulina Luna, R-13th; Laurel Lee, R-15th; Lois Frankel, D-22nd; Scott Franklin, R-18th; Maxwell Frost, D-10th; Matt Gaetz, R-1; Carlos Gimenez, R-28th, Brian Mast, R-21; Bill Posey, R-8th; Maria Elvira Salazar, R-27th; and Mike Waltz, R-6th are cosponsors of H.R. 2742. Senators Cory Booker, D-N.J., and John Kennedy, R-La. are the authors of the companion bill.
The FIGHT Act would allow for citizen suits against perpetrators, ban online gambling on animal fights, allow for criminal forfeiture of property used to commit animal fighting crimes, and forbid the use of the U.S. mail to ship adult roosters.
The FIGHT Act has endorsements from 750 organizations and agencies, including the Florida Sheriffs’ Association and the National Sheriffs’ Association, from the domains of animal welfare, law enforcement, agriculture, gaming, and conservation. No other animal welfare legislation has as much bipartisan support as H.R. 2742 and S. 1529.
“The federal government can play an essential role in helping us enforce the laws to halt inhumane animal fights,” wrote Sheriff Bill Leeper, president of the Florida Sheriffs Association in its endorsement of the FIGHT Act. “These are often complex operations, requiring multiple agencies stretching across states, territories, and even nations. Sheriffs have finite resources and may be unable to conduct a complete investigation if an animal fighting ring stretches across county or state lines.”
Florida’s former state Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried said this about animal fighting: “Such abhorrent behavior will not be tolerated — be it illegal conduct hurting Floridians or cruelty against animals.”