Two national animal welfare advocacy groups have released video footage that appears to show two leaders of the Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission attending illegal cockfights.
Anthony DeVore and Blake Pearce, the organization’s president and vice president, have lobbied the Legislature in recent years to reduce Oklahoma’s penalties for cockfighting. Now, the two men are being accused by Animal Wellness Action President Wayne Pacelle of engaging in a “criminal conspiracy.” Pacelle said his group has identified six cockfighting pits and more than 30 gamefowl farms involved in the operation.
“We said all along that these are just people dressed up in suits pretending to be chicken farmers, gamefowl enthusiasts and criminal justice advocates,” Pacelle said. “But they’re just inveterate, determined cockfighters who are routinely breaking the laws of the state, tribal law and also federal law.”
Animal Wellness Action, an advocacy group dedicated to furthering policies protecting animals, has conducted many of what they call “investigations” of the cockfighting industry in Oklahoma. Leaders of the nonprofit said videos captured by undercover investigators confirm the identity of DeVore and Pearce at cockfighting events on May 31 and June 7. Both events took place within the Shady Grove community in McIntosh County on Cherokee tribal land, Pacelle said.
Neither DeVore nor Pearce responded to requests for comment prior to the publication of this article.
Boasting a tagline of, “For your liberties, for your freedoms, for your rights,” the Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission defines itself an advocacy group for chicken farmers and those who raise roosters. DeVore and Pearce have said they do not support cockfighting, but the group has pushed to lessen criminal penalties for the practice, and Pearce is a third-generation “rooster fighter” from Sallisaw, according to an interview his father gave in 2017.
“He’s very much interested in the gamefowl, yes. He helps me a great deal. His name is Blake Pearce,” Jeff Pearce told two men from the Philippines about his son. “It runs in the blood. He’s got it from both ends. My father was a rooster fighter, and my wife’s father was a rooster fighter, so he had no choice. (…) We don’t have the freedom here that you have over there. Right now, it is illegal in our state here.”
Cockfighting is a blood sport that forces two roosters to fight each other, often to the death, for entertainment. The practice can involve equipping the animals with blades or “spurs” and gambling on outcomes. Roosters are bred and trained for the purpose of fighting, and in Oklahoma there are 5,000 rooster-breeding farms “contributing over $60 million to the state’s economy,” according to an April 2023 press release from the Gamefowl Commission. Cockfighting is popular in countries around the world, including areas of southeast Asia.
The practice of cockfighting became an Oklahoma felony in 2002 after 56.1 percent of voters supported State Question 687. The Oklahoma Supreme Court unanimously upheld the ban in 2004, which also makes it a felony to train, own or assist cockfighting. Spectating at a cockfight qualifies as a misdemeanor.
In one video released by Animal Wellness Action, a man appearing to be DeVore watches as two bladed roosters fight within a caged pit. Alongside the man are dozens of others watching the cockfighting derby May 31. Another video shows a man appearing to be DeVore viewing a cockfight at a second venue.
A separate video pictures Pearce, according to the animal advocacy group. In the video, the man appearing to be Pearce sat in the front row behind a caged pit with dozens of others watching a cockfight. From a different angle, the man rises later in the recording to reveal an Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission logo on his shirt.
“It’s just a front for cockfighters,” Pacelle said of the Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission. “Now we know that the leaders of this national effort, based in Oklahoma, are who we have said they are.”
The animal rights organization’s investigators also captured multiple videos of children attending the cockfights, which is a felony under state, tribal and federal law. The children in the videos appear both inside the fighting venue and outside playing with a rooster corpse in a trailer.
Asked how investigators obtained the footage without breaking any cockfighting spectator laws, Pacelle said he could not divulge any details out of concern for the safety of those infiltrating and recording cockfighting circles.
Steve Hindi, president of Showing Animals Respect and Kindness, said police often do not enforce cockfighting laws, so he said SHARK documents active fights through informants and reports its findings to law enforcement. Despite this, Hindi said officers sometimes do not pursue an adequate response.
“The counter to (criminals) is supposed to be the police, and that is where the failure is happening,” Hindi said. “Until the police start stepping up, we’re going to continue to have cockfighting.”
Pacelle also mentioned some instances in which he alleges that cockfighting enterprises have corrupted law enforcement.
“We just cannot tolerate inattention when we work to set up the enforcement action with private citizens,” Pacelle said. “We are asking all law enforcement to treat this set of crimes with the seriousness that they deserve. This is a serious crime of animal cruelty. It’s tied to other illegal activities.”
Political support for Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission
Throughout 2022 and 2023, the Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission donated more than $100,000 to Oklahoma lawmakers. The group gave $5,000 to the Republican State House Committee of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Senate Republican State PAC. It also donated $2,000 each to Gov. Kevin Stitt, Senate President Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton (R-Tuttle), Sen. Brent Howard (R-Altus), former House Speaker Charles McCall (R-Atoka), former House Majority Floor Leader Jon Echols (R-OKC) and former Senate Republican leaders Greg Treat (R-OKC) and Greg McCortney (R-Ada).
Amid swirling criticism for vague reporting to the Oklahoma Ethics Commission, the organization has reported no donations in 2024 or 2025, although DeVore donated personally to six candidates and one PAC — Working for Oklahoma’s Legislature Future — in 2024.
Animal Wellness Action says the Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission raised at least $100,000 from other cockfighters and funneled what he believes were illegally acquired funds mainly to Oklahoma politicians.
“We have documented it on the front end that [the Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission] engaged in illegal activities to procure the donation money, which they then put into the political system,” Pacelle said.
In recent years, the commission has garnered support from U.S. Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-OK2), who said he backs the decriminalization of cockfighting. The group also received a video “cheer” from Gov. Kevin Stitt in 2023, although a spokeswoman said Stitt “is not in favor of any sort of animal cruelty.”
Rep. Justin Humphrey (R-Lane) has been the most vocal legislator to support the decriminalization of cockfighting, and he authored HB 1313 and HB 1326 this session in an effort to do so. The bills respectively attempt to reduce the penalty for cockfighting to a misdemeanor and allow a fowl to fight a robot if the rooster is unharmed. The House left each bill dormant in March, but they remain alive for the 2026 session.
Logan County cockfighting bust
News of DeVore and Pearce’s alleged attendance at cockfights comes weeks after Logan County deputies arrested nine people affiliated with a cockfighting operation on May 24. Deputies also seized more than 50 roosters.
“These arrests by the Logan County Sheriff’s Office underscore the persistent presence of animal fighting ventures in our communities, despite being outlawed,” Pacelle said in a press release. “It is good to see a sheriff’s office prioritize the enforcement of animal cruelty laws to protect both animals and public safety.”
The Logan County district attorney charged five people with spectating a cockfight and instigating a cockfight: Noe Esquivel-Mesta, 51; Juan Lopez Martinez; 31, Michael Hinton, 32; Luis Galindo-Castaneda, 38; and Gustavo Padilla-Rivera, 55.
The district attorney also charged Manuel Rios-Arellano, 63, with owning a bird intended for cockfighting. Additionally, the district attorney charged Maria Dejesus-Flores, 65, and Eliaquin Campos, 49, with keeping equipment or facilities for cockfights. According to court documents, Dejesus-Flores and Campos maintained a barn outfitted with an arena and other facilities for cockfighting.
Bodycam footage revealed multiple people emerging from a barn and fleeing to the nearby woods, according to court documents. Investigators seized 28 vehicles and trailers left behind.
Meanwhile, in Oklahoma County, an Oct. 6 trial date has been set for Ellie Pennit Grino, who faces one remaining count of possessing birds with the intent to engage in cockfighting after more than 50 other charges were dismissed in September. Earlier this month, federal authorities charged 60 people in Alabama following a cockfighting bust, with only five of the 60 determined to be U.S. citizens.
