KENTUCKY (FOX 56) — A new federal law would strengthen animal fighting laws in Kentucky.

Driven by concerns for the barbarism of animal fighting and the other crimes that surround staged animal combat, as well as disease threats to poultry and other birds posed by illegal transports of fighting roosters, U.S. Senators Cory Booker, D-N.J., and John Kennedy, R-La., introduced legislation to strengthen the federal law against dogfighting and cockfighting.

Their bill is the companion to H.R. 2742, introduced last month by U.S. Reps. Don Bacon, R-Neb., and Andrea Salinas, D-Ore. Their bipartisan, bicameral legislation is entitled the Fighting Inhumane Gambling and High-Risk Trafficking (FIGHT) Act.

For more than a decade, the Animal Defense Fund has ranked Kentucky as the worst state when it comes to animal cruelty laws.

Now, activists are calling on lawmakers to crack down on offenders with an emphasis on cockfighting.

The Animal Welfare Act previously outlawed: individuals under the age of 16 from attending animal fights, the fighting and trafficking of animals or knives, gaffs, or other sharp instruments for fighting purposes, and the advertisement of any animals or knives, gaffs, or other sharp instruments for fighting purposes through any communication service including the U.S. Postal Service. The FIGHT Act takes their efforts a step further by prohibiting simulcasting of and gambling on staged animal combat, creating a private right of action against illegal animal fighters, allowing for forfeiture of property assets used in animal fighting crimes, and the trafficking of mature roosters through the U.S. Mail.

“For thrills and gambling, dogfighters and cock fighters place animals in pits and goad them to injure, mutilate, and kill,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action. “The FIGHT Act will provide more tools to law enforcement to root out this barbarism in the nation and prevent the spillover of violence and mayhem in our communities.”

Pacelle told FOX 56 News “It is no exaggeration to say that Kentucky and a few other states are the breeding grounds for the global cockfighting community.”

Currently, mature roosters are among the few “harmless” animals considered mailable, according to the U.S. Postal Service including:

• Bees
• Day-old poultry
• Adult birds
• Scorpions (under limited circumstances)
• Other small, harmless, coldblooded animals

Thomas Pool, the senior veterinarian with Animal Wellness Action, notes that often the birds are “all shipped only for cockfighting purposes and for no legitimate purposes.” The FIGHT Act bars any use of the U.S. mail to ship any adult roosters.

“When law enforcement officers bust dogfights or cockfights, we often find a cluster of other criminal behavior: illegal gambling, money laundering, tax evasion, narcotics trafficking, illegal weapons, and more,” noted retired Bedford County, Virginia, Sheriff Mike Brown, president of the Small & Rural Law Enforcement Executives Association. “Stronger laws against animal fighting, with strong enforcement, will only make our communities safer.”

“People are coming to Kentucky because it’s viewed as a state without as severe a set of penalties as neighboring jurisdictions, and also, it appears local law enforcement in some cases has been corrupted,” said Pacelle.

“Animal fighting is cruel, illegal, and unacceptable,” said Booker, sponsor of the FIGHT Act, “It’s time we take stronger action to stop these heinous abuses against animals and protect them from being exploited for entertainment and profit. This bill will tighten enforcement to put a stop to illegal animal fighting.”