![\"Cockfighting](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.animals24-7.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picsart_25-01-28_20-33-00-980-e1738125337238.jpg?ssl=1\")
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<\/a> H5N1 in background.\u00a0 (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 WALLAND,\u00a0 Tennessee;\u00a0 CLEMENTS,\u00a0 YUCAIPA, MERCED,\u00a0 California;\u00a0 OKLAHOMA CITY,\u00a0 Oklahoma\u2013\u2013<\/strong>Murder is far from the only other criminal offense commonly associated with cockfighting,\u00a0 but the January 27,\u00a0 2025 appointment of Maryville,\u00a0 Tennessee attorney Rick Clark to represent convicted cockfighter and triple murder suspect Johnny Ray Wilburn,\u00a0 56,\u00a0 temporarily took the spotlight away from other cockfighting-related activity that has already killed 130 million chickens in the U.S. alone,\u00a0 13 million of them just in January 2025,\u00a0 and could kill a lot more people than every cockfighting murderer combined.<\/p>\n And that is not even to mention 53 dead horses found as result of a cockfighting bust in California.<\/p>\n <\/a> Johnny Ray Wilburn.<\/strong><\/em> \u201cBlount County District Attorney General Ryan Desmond said his office has filed a motion to increase Wilburn\u2019s bond,\u201d\u00a0 originally set at $750,000, \u00a0\u201cbut declined to discuss the issue in court,\u201d\u00a0 reported Mathaus Schwarzen for the Maryville Daily Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n Wilburn is charged with killing Cas Ivan Farley, \u00a061,\u00a0 Delmar Marty Farley, 59, \u00a0and Norma Kay Farley, \u00a065,\u00a0 on January 19, \u00a02025,\u00a0 and then burning their house down.<\/p>\n \u201cNorma Farley\u2019s niece told WVLT News that Wilburn is Norma\u2019s ex-husband\u2019s son and was staying with the family a few days before the fire,\u201d\u00a0 reported Josh Jarnigan of WVLT News in Jackson,\u00a0 Mississippi.<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n ANIMALS 24-7<\/strong> initially described the Wilburn murder case beneath a summary of a Showing Animals Respect & Kindness [SHARK] appeal for calls to Lee County,\u00a0 Mississippi sheriff Jim Johnson,\u00a0 about \u201can illegal cockfight,\u201d\u00a0 near Baldwyn,\u00a0 Mississippi,\u00a0 \u201cplanned for the D.L. Parker pit January 25, \u00a02025.\u201d<\/p>\n The appeal for calls was apparently successful,\u00a0 as Showing Animals Respect & Kindness informed ANIMALS 24-7 <\/strong>the following day that the cockfight was cancelled.<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n Meanwhile,\u00a0 Madisen Keavy of CBS News in Sacramento,\u00a0 California,\u00a0 reported that as result of a cockfighting investigation near Clements,\u00a0 in the San Joaquin Valley,\u00a0 \u201cVolunteers spent two days rescuing dozens of horses and other animals at the center of an animal abuse investigation.<\/p>\n \u201cAccording to the San Joaquin County Sheriff\u2019s Office,\u201d\u00a0 Keavy wrote,\u00a0 \u201c90 horses, \u00a0five donkeys, \u00a0and three alpacas were rescued, \u00a0while 53 horses, \u00a0one cow, \u00a0and one dog were found dead.<\/p>\n \u201cThirteen horses, \u00a0one donkey, \u00a0and one bull had to be euthanized,\u201d\u00a0 Keavy said.<\/p>\n \u201cThese numbers are subject to change, \u00a0according to authorities, \u00a0as the investigation is still active and ongoing,\u201d\u00a0 Keavy added.<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n \u201cThe sheriff\u2019s office said law enforcement officials first made contact with suspect Jan Johnson in August 2024 after reports of neglect,\u201d\u00a0 Keavy recounted.\u00a0 \u201cAt that visit, she allegedly threatened deputies.<\/p>\n \u201cThen, \u00a0on January 4, \u00a0officers responded to a report of a rooster fight at one of Johnson\u2019s three properties near Clements.\u00a0 Officers discovered 30 dead roosters and 65 who were alive.<\/p>\n \u201cA spokesperson for the sheriff\u2019s office told CBS13 that Johnson was not associated with the rooster fight and was not at the home at the time, but because she was the owner of the property, authorities were able to get warrants to search her primary home and others.\u00a0\u201c<\/p>\n Johnson was reportedly jailed on charges which,\u00a0 as well as neglect of animals,\u00a0 included \u201cthreatening a public official, \u00a0other criminal threats, \u00a0and possession of a short-barrel shotgun.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n The Clements cockfighting raid came three days after the San Bernardino County Sheriff\u2019s Department \u201carrested two men, \u00a0detained 33 others and seized more than 200 fighting roosters, \u00a0U.S. currency and dozens of firearms\u201d at a cockfight in Yucaipa,\u00a0 California,\u00a0 430 miles south.<\/p>\n \u201cAn estimated 50 vehicles were on the property when deputies arrived, \u00a0with many of the occupants attempting to flee the area, \u00a0authorities said,\u201d\u00a0 reported Josh DuBose of KTLA television in Los Angeles<\/p>\n \u201cA suspect, \u00a0later identified as 33-year-old Riverside resident Jose Adame, \u00a0accelerated toward San Bernardino County Sheriff\u2019s patrol unit, \u00a0narrowly missing a deputy, \u00a0who then initiated a pursuit.<\/p>\n \u201cAdame eventually stopped his vehicle,\u201d\u00a0 DuBose continued.\u00a0 \u201cHe and three passengers were taken into custody. \u00a0Inside the vehicle, \u00a0which was later impounded, \u00a0deputies recovered six live roosters in the rear cargo area,\u201d\u00a0 according to a San Bernardino County Sheriff\u2019s Department media release.<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n \u201cAn additional 33 people identified as spectators of the illegal operation were detained at the property,\u201d\u00a0 DuBose narrated, \u00a0\u201cwhere authorities found 250 roosters, \u00a0a fighting ring with a scoreboard, \u00a0and steel talons, \u00a0typically placed on rooster\u2019s claws during the illegal fights.\u201d<\/p>\n Suspect Carlos Romero,\u00a0 35,\u00a0 was found \u201chiding in his truck with seven live roosters inside boxes,\u201d\u00a0 DuBose added,\u00a0 \u201cin possession of a large sum of U.S. currency and a Ruger semi-automatic handgun.<\/p>\n During a property search,\u00a0 DuBose continued,\u00a0 \u201cAdditional steel talons were located and approximately 24 firearms were seized from a large safe,\u00a0 officials said.<\/p>\n \u201cPersonnel with animal control located an estimated 17 dead roosters, \u00a0eight live roosters and tagged another 61 boxes of roosters, \u00a0while inspectors with Yucaipa Code Enforcement red tagged several buildings, including a trailer on the property.<\/p>\n Adame was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, \u00a0failure to yield, \u00a0and animal cruelty. Romero was charged only with animal cruelty.<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n A quick look at any good map of California will show that Clements and Yucaipa are both situated along the Pacific flyway,\u00a0 heavily used by migratory waterfowl,\u00a0 with Merced about 70 miles southeast as the ducks fly,\u00a0 and Yucaipa about 330 miles farther southeast from there.<\/p>\n The California cockfighting belt has historically stretched from Sacramento at the northern end of the Central Valley south to Los Angeles and San Diego,\u00a0 directly under the most heavily used portion of the Pacific flyway.<\/p>\n Central Valley cities including Merced,\u00a0 Fresno,\u00a0 and Bakersfield,\u00a0 along with the central California coastal cities of Salinas and Monterey,\u00a0 have more-or-less openly hosted cockfighting and gamefowl breeding since the \u201cOkie\u201d migration of the 1930s Dustbowl era collided with Mexican \u201cbraceros\u201d and Filipino farmworkers who were already there.<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n Unlike commercial poultry flocks,\u00a0 raised by the tens of thousands inside gigantic barns,\u00a0 gamefowl are raised outdoors, \u00a0the hens in pens or coops at least partially open to the elements,\u00a0 \u00a0roosters mostly tethered in rooster-sized A-frames,\u00a0 just out of pecking reach of each other,\u00a0 to whet their fighting instincts.<\/p>\n Gamefowl are accordingly highly vulnerable to any disease that migrating waterfowl might bring with them.<\/p>\n Illegal cockfighting and transport of gamefowl either produced or spread outbreaks of Newcastle disease with devastating consequences for the California poultry industry in 1971-1973,\u00a0 2002-2003,\u00a0 and 2018-2019.<\/p>\n The latter outbreak was made much,\u00a0 much worse when U.S. president Donald Trump,\u00a0 then in his first term,\u00a0 during a budget dispute with Congress furloughed most of the federal personnel who could have helped to respond to the outbreak.<\/p>\n (See\u00a0Disease linked to cockfighting menaces California poultry industry<\/a> and Federal shutdown helps disease race from gamecocks to egg barns<\/a>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n Now the whole catastrophe appears to be happening again,\u00a0 due to outbreaks of the H5N1 avian influenza,\u00a0 also contaminating raw milk produced in the Fresno area,\u00a0 and now apparently mutating into new avian flu variants of unknown possible consequence.<\/p>\n \u201cA rare strain of bird flu, \u00a0H5N9, \u00a0has been detected on a duck farm in California\u2019s Merced County,\u201d\u00a0 San Francisco Chronicle<\/em> reporter Aidin Vaziri disclosed on January 27,\u00a0 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cThe World Organization for Animal Health reported the outbreak,\u201d\u00a0 Vaziri continued, \u00a0\u201calso noting that the more common H5N1 strain was present at the same farm. \u00a0In response, nearly 119,000 birds were culled to prevent the virus from spreading.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n Acknowledged the U.S. Department of Agriculture,\u00a0 \u201cThis is the first confirmed case of high pathogenic H5N9 in poultry in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n Summarized Vaziri,\u00a0 \u201cAlthough H5N9 is uncommon, \u00a0it raises concerns about the evolving threat of avian flu. The U.S. National Library of Medicine notes that it remains unclear whether this new strain could mutate into a form that spreads to humans.<\/p>\n Warned the National Library of Medicine,\u00a0 \u201cWhether this novel H5N9 virus will cause human infections from its avian host and become a pandemic subtype is not known yet.\u00a0 It is therefore imperative to assess the risk of emergence of this novel reassortant virus with potential transmissibility to public health.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/a> Oklahoma state legislator Justin Humphrey.<\/strong><\/em> Despite that,\u00a0 and despite the long history of cockfighting as a vector for pandemic disease,\u00a0 Oklahoma state legislator Justin Humphrey,\u00a0 a Republican from Lane in Atoka County,\u00a0 has introduced state house bills 1313 and 1326,\u00a0 to reduce the Oklahoma penalty for cockfighting from a felony to a misdemeanor,\u00a0 and to allow fights between gamefowl and robots.<\/p>\n This is the same Justin Humphrey who has repeatedly introduced bills to reduce the penalties for cockfighting in past legislative sessions,\u00a0 and in 2021 also introduced a bill to introduce a hunting season for Bigfoot.<\/p>\n Said Humphrey,\u00a0 \u201cIf I had my choice, \u00a0I can go over here and stop two chickens fighting, \u00a0or I can go over here and I can bust somebody dealing heroin.\u00a0 I\u2019m going after the heroin, not after the chickens.\u201d<\/p>\n But cockfighting busts typically nab alleged perps in possession of illegal drugs too,\u00a0 including in Oklahoma in October 2024.<\/p>\n (See Oklahoma cockfighting bust reignites effort to pass FIGHT Act in new Congress<\/a>.)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/a> Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt consorts with the Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission.<\/strong><\/em> \u201cSenator Tom Woods, \u00a0a Republican from Westville, \u00a0also proposed a cockfighting bill, \u00a0Senate Bill 1111,\u201d\u00a0 reported Emma Murphy of Oklahoma Voice<\/em>,\u00a0 \u201cwhich would reduce the penalty to a misdemeanor and alter the definitions of what it means to participate in cockfighting.<\/p>\n \u201cA first conviction ,\u201d\u00a0 under the Woods bill,\u00a0 \u201cwould be a misdemeanor with a $500 fine. \u00a0A second conviction would still be a misdemeanor, \u00a0but with a penalty of up to a year in county jail, \u00a0a fine of $2,500, \u00a0or both. A third offense would bring the penalty to felony status with a two-year sentence, \u00a0a $5,000 fine, \u00a0or both,\u201d\u00a0 Murphy explained.<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n Argued Woods,\u00a0 \u201cThis legislation creates options for law enforcement to prosecute this crime more than they do now.\u00a0 Currently, \u00a0there are very few cases being prosecuted because of the level of penalty assessed with the crime and the burden on law enforcement to take it to court.<\/p>\n \u201cIf passed,\u201d\u00a0 Woods said, \u00a0\u201cthis will still be a crime with felony punishments attached to it, \u00a0while bringing more reasonable penalties into alignment for the offense.\u201d<\/p>\n Kirkpatrick Policy Group spokesperson Brendan Hoover objected that,\u00a0 \u201cReducing the penalties for cockfighting sends a message that the crime isn\u2019t a big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n Agreed Kevin Chambers,\u00a0 Oklahoma representative for Animal Welllness \/Action, However,\u00a0 the penalties proposed in the Woods bill would be as strong or stronger than those now in effect in 21 states.<\/p>\n <\/a> Former Atoka County sheriff Tony Head and District 19 Oklahoma State Representative Justin Humphrey.\u00a0 See Pro-cockfighting sheriff loses election, anti-cockfighting sheriff loses coin flip.\u00a0 <\/a><\/strong><\/em>(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n Currently cockfighting in Oklahoma is a felony,\u00a0 carrying a maximum penalty of ten years in prison plus a $25,000 fine.\u00a0 Possession of birds for fighting,\u00a0 also a felony, \u00a0can be punished with up to ten years in prison plus a fine of from $2,000 to $25,000.<\/p>\n Attending a cockfight is a misdemeanor,\u00a0 punishable by up to one year in jail plus a fine of $5,000.\u00a0 Possession of cockfighting implements,\u00a0 such as gaffs and spurs,\u00a0 is not an offense.<\/p>\n These penalties,\u00a0 among the strongest in the U.S.,\u00a0 were introduced by ballot initiative in 2002,\u00a0 were upheld by the Oklahoma Supreme Court in 2004,\u00a0 and continue to be supported in public opinion polls,\u00a0 but in 23 years only 29 cockfighting cases have been prosecuted in Oklahoma under the present law.<\/p>\n90 horses,\u00a0 five donkeys,\u00a0 & three alpacas found allegedly starving but still alive<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n
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(Blount County Sheriff\u2019s Department)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\nMotion to raise bond from $750,000<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nSHARK pressure apparently cancelled cockfight in Mississippi<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n13 horses,\u00a0 a donkey,\u00a0 & a bull were euthanized<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\u201cPossession of a short-barreled shotgun\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nSecond big cockfighting bust in California within three days<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nRuger semi-automatic<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nCalifornia cockfighting belt coincides with Pacific flyway<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nHistory of California cockfighters spreading disease<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nDeja vu all over again<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nFirst confirmed case of new bird flu in U.S.<\/h2>\n
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(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\nJustin Humphrey,\u00a0 again<\/h2>\n
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(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\nAnother bill to lower penalties<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\u201cCreates options\u201d?<\/h2>\n
\u201cThese bills are simply attempts to make it harder for law enforcement to do their jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\nWhy is the law not enforced?<\/h2>\n