A cockfighting operation located in Memphis has caused more than 100 roosters and hens to contract mycoplasma, a bacteria that causes significant damage to the body. This resulted in the animals being euthanized.
According to Memphis Animal Services, the birds were “discovered to be kept in cramped cages and standing in their own feces.” They were discovered at the duplex of 47-year-old Luis Vallellanes, who has been charged with aggravated cruelty to animals.
Authorities also found “a dog with injuries consistent with animal fighting,” at Vallellanes’ home earlier this month.
Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action said their investigations into animal fighting in Tennessee have spanned from Cocke County to Shelby County. He also said this recent discovery is a threat to the state’s “major” poultry industry.
“That’s not a circumstance that farmers or consumers can afford, and state lawmakers need to act and stop kowtowing to organized criminal associations in the state,” said Pacelle in a statement.
During the 2023 legislative session, Senator Jon Lundberg (R-Bristol) introduced SB 0194 which would make “certain animal cruelty offenses involving a cock,” a Class E Felony. As of now, Tennessee is only one of eight states that does not provide “felony-level penalties” for cockfighting.
“Tennessee Senator Jon Lundberg, is seeking to strengthen the law to crack down on cruelty, to address the other crimes associated with animal fighting, and to protect the state’s poultry flocks from diseases spread by sickened, stressed, cockfighting birds,” reads a statement from The Center for a Humane Economy.
The Center for a Humane Economy added that Congress is looking to expand federal animal fighting laws through the FIGHT Act ( H.R. 2742/S. 1529.)
The summary of the act prohibits “broadcasts from international, interstate, or intrastate sources of animal fighting ventures in the United States or U.S. territories; and shipments or transport of certain mature roosters.”