![\"Arkansas](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.animals24-7.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picsart_25-04-02_22-38-15-426-e1743658721150.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas;\u00a0 UVALDE, \u00a0Texas<\/strong>\u2013\u2013Three days after investigative work by Animal Wellness Action representative Kevin Chambers set up the March 30,\u00a0 2025 arrest of 21 alleged cockfighters and seizure of 67 roosters at a cockfighting derby in Hunt County,\u00a0 Texas, \u00a060 miles from the Arkansas border,\u00a0 Chambers was again the man of the hour at an Arkansas state Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that killed HB 1611,\u00a0 a bill passed by the Arkansas House of Representatives that would have disabled the state law against cockfighting.<\/p>\n \u201cKevin Chambers, \u00a0who has worked with Steve Hindi of Showing Animals Respect and Kindness on so many cockfighting raids, \u00a0appeared and unmasked U.S. Gamefowl Commission spokesperson Blake Pearce as an active member of a multi-generational cockfighting family,\u201d\u00a0 Animal Wellness Action president Wayne Pacelle emailed to ANIMALS 24-7.<\/strong><\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cPearce and U.S. Gamefowl Commission president Anthony DeVore cooked up this whole scheme to pull a fast one on lawmakers.\u00a0 We got it just in time,\u201d\u00a0 Pacelle said.<\/p>\n (See \u201cArkansas House passed pro cockfighting bill,\u201d & it was not an April Fool<\/a>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cJust two days after the Arkansas House of Representatives approved HB 1611,\u201d\u00a0 Pacelle explained in a prepared statement,\u00a0 \u201cthe Senate Judiciary Committee overwhelmingly quashed the effort, \u00a0defeating the measure on a voice vote.<\/p>\n \u201cThe defeat of the bill also came just two days after Washington County,\u00a0 Arkansas authorities arrested two backyard cockfighters,\u201d\u00a0 Pacelle added,\u00a0 \u201cwhose activities would not have been illegal under the terms of HB 1611.\u201d<\/p>\n Anthony Devore.<\/strong><\/em> Added Desiree Bender,\u00a0 Animal Wellness Action state director for Arkansas,\u00a0 \u201cTwo notorious cockfighters from Oklahoma brought this bill to the state, \u00a0and their motivations and their backgrounds as cockfighters were unveiled by our team.\u00a0 We are grateful to the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who saw through the cockfighters\u2019 charade.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to the Animal Wellness Action team,\u00a0 also representing the allied Center for a Humane Economy,\u00a0 \u201cThree elected Arkansas district attorneys explained to the state senators that HB 1611 was not about protecting legitimate poultry producers, \u00a0and was all about decriminalizing cockfighting.\u00a0 The Arkansas Animal Control Association also weighed in against the measure.\u201d<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cBlake Pearce\u2019s father,\u201d\u00a0 Pacelle recalled, \u00a0\u201cwas the lead plaintiff 20 years ago in legal maneuvers to overturn a voter-approved ballot initiative in Oklahoma to make cockfighting a felony. The family maintains a major cockbreeding complex in eastern Oklahoma.<\/p>\n \u201cThe case was Edmondson v. Pearce, \u00a0\u00a0decided by the Oklahoma Supreme Court, \u00a0which unanimously ruled that Oklahoma\u2019s comprehensive anti-cockfighting law,\u00a0 a model for lawmakers in Arkansas, \u00a0who enacted a similar statute in 2009, \u00a0was constitutional.<\/p>\n Said Chambers,\u00a0 not taking a word of personal credit,\u00a0 \u201cThe only people behind the HB 1611 were cockfighters, \u00a0and I am grateful to Senate Judiciary Committee members for allowing us to detail the motivations of the proponents.\u201d<\/p>\n Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt consorts with the Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission.<\/strong><\/em> Resumed Pacelle,\u00a0 \u201cPearce and his associate, \u00a0Anthony DeVore, \u00a0have repeatedly failed to gain any traction with similar efforts in the Oklahoma legislature to weaken that state\u2019s anti-cockfighting law. \u00a0Despite forming a Political Action Committee and distributing tens of thousands of dollars to state lawmakers \u2013 with tainted money from raffling fighting birds to other cockfighters \u2014 not one of their three bills in Oklahoma even made it out of its first committee this year.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo state has ever weakened its anti-cockfighting law, and I am awfully glad that Arkansas law remains intact,\u201d \u00a0<\/strong>concluded Pacelle.<\/p>\n Pacelle about two weeks earlier reminded in a media release addressing animal fighting in Texas that,\u00a0 \u201cSalvador Ramos, \u00a0the 18-year-old who massacred 19 children and two teachers at a school in Uvalde, \u00a0Texas, \u00a0allegedly boasted to friends that he tortured animals,\u00a0 among the latest examples in a long list of mass shooters and serial killers who got started with animal cruelty.\u201d<\/p>\n Uvalde County sheriff Ruben Nolasco.<\/strong><\/em> While Pacelle,\u00a0 Chambers,\u00a0 and Bender were stopping cockfighters in Little Rock,\u00a0 the Arkansas state capital,\u00a0 Hindi of Showing Animals Respect & Kindness was,\u00a0 coincidentally,\u00a0 confronting Uvalde County Sheriff Ruben Nolasco about his non-response to tips about cockfighting within his jurisdiction.<\/p>\n \u201cThree times today I called your office to provide information about an illegal cockfighting operation in your county,\u201d\u00a0 Hindi emailed to Nolasco,\u00a0 cc. to ANIMALS 24-7<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cOn my first call, \u00a0I was able to give only partial information to a woman,\u201d\u00a0 Hindi said.\u00a0 \u201cShe refused to take all the information, \u00a0claiming an officer would call me back for the rest of the information. \u00a0I didn\u2019t receive a callback. I had to leave messages the other two times I called.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI am therefore providing that information in this email,\u201d\u00a0 Hindi continued.<\/p>\n \u201cThe address of the property is 628 Deer Valley Ranch Road, \u00a0Uvalde,\u201d\u00a0 Hindi said.\u00a0 \u201cThe property owner is Thomas L. Sanchez.\u00a0 The coordinates for the pit building are 29.3312, -99.7600.\u00a0 The cockfighters have primarily used the entrance across from 480 Arrow Head Lane, \u00a0Uvalde. \u00a0Fights occur weekly on either Saturday or Sunday,\u201d\u00a0 Hindi alleged.<\/p>\n \u201cThe source of this information is trusted,\u201d\u00a0 Hindi told Sheriff Nolasco, \u00a0\u201cbut must be kept anonymous because cockfighters are violent criminals.\u201d<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In the U.S. Department of Justice Critical Incident Review, \u00a0Active Shooter at Robb Elementary School,\u00a0 released on January 18,\u00a0 2024,\u00a0 \u201cSheriff Ruben Nolasco and Uvalde County Constable Emmanuel Zamora were both highlighted for their inaction on May 24, 2022 when hundreds of law enforcement officers waited more than an hour to take down the school shooter,\u201d\u00a0 reported William Melhado for the Texas Tribune<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Justice Department repeatedly named Nolasco in its scathing criticism of responding officers,\u201d\u00a0 Melhado continued.<\/p>\n \u201cSheriff Nolasco did not seek out or establish a command post, \u00a0establish unified command, share the intelligence he learned from [two relatives of shooter Nolasco], \u00a0nor did he assign an intelligence officer to gather intelligence on the subject,\u201d \u00a0Melhado quoted from the Justice Department report.<\/p>\nMeanwhile Texas sheriff Ruben Nolasco,\u00a0 who did not do his job during the Uvalde school massacre,\u00a0 again allegedly does not do his job in response to tips about cockfighting<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cWe got it just in time\u201d<\/h2>\n
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(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\u201cTwo notorious cockfighters from Oklahoma\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nFamily tradition<\/h2>\n
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(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\nOklahoma bills to decriminalize cockfighting all failed<\/h2>\n
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(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\nHindi confronts Nolasco<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cCockfighters are violent criminals\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nNolasco history vs. violent criminal<\/h2>\n