(MOBILE COUNTY, Ala.) LOCAL 15 News has uncovered a vast, under ground world of cockfighting right here in Mobile County. As alarming as what we're about to show you is, there's not much law enforcement can do about it because Alabama has one the weakest cockfighting laws in the nation.
They fight to the death. "They basically get stabbed so many times, one dies, and the other is declared the winner," said an insider who didn't want to be identified. All the while a large crowd cheers and places bets on this brutal blood sport.
"Once the two birds enter the arena, it's deafening in there," he said. "People hollering 'I've got $50 over here or $100 over here.' You can't here yourself think."
We found not one but two separate organized cockfighting operations here in Mobile County. With multiple hidden cameras, our undercover team documents a derby in an area just outside Citronelle at a place called "Port City." It's estimated 1,000 people are in attendance. Like other sporting events, there's a fee for spectators. Kids even get a discount.
"Is he under 14?" the man at the gates asks. "It's $10 for him."
Fans buy concessions, souvenir T-shirts, mugs, and DVDs. "That one shows you how to handle," says the man who sells the merchandise. Once the birds are weighed and matched in a computer program, the fighting gets underway. In the pit, two bird handlers provoke the roosters. A referee calls the match.
"The only time you handle your birds is when the sharp gaffs stick in the head or where ever. They tell you to handle and both guys grab their birds, and they ease the sharp instrument out of the head. Back 'em up and let them go again," said the insider.
The roosters are armed with sharp, steel blades that are tied to their legs. Often times, they're also injected with drugs. As we found with our hidden cameras, handlers will do anything to keep the fight going, even suck the blood out a bird's beak to keep it from choking to death.
"I've seen one bird get the wing broke and break the other wing, just to balance him out. Just whatever it takes to keep him fighting," he said. "How long can a fight go on?" asked Ramey. "I've seen 'em last damn near 40 minutes," he said.
"Cockfighters laugh about the suffering. They will jokingly refer to a bird who has had his eyes gouged out as a blinker. They will jokingly refer to a bird as a rattler if his lung has been punctured because of the noise a bird makes when he's choking on his blood," said John Goodwin, Director of Animal Abuse Cruelty Policy for The Humane Society of The United States.
For the overall winner of this blood bath, there's thousands of dollars to be won. "We're probably talking sixty, seventy, eighty thousand dollars. Lot of money to fight chickens in one day."
That's just one derby near Citronelle. In the Semmes area we found another organized ring that hosts regular weekly fights.
We showed Mobile County Sheriff Sam Cochran what we uncovered.
"Most of the activity we're referring to or speaking about is not prohibited, not illegal. It's not against the law to raise chickens to sell chickens that might be used in a fight, to have events on private property. It's not illegal for spectators to be there. The only thing that is against the law are those that are hosting and promoting the cockfighting itself. The penalty is a $20 fine, not to exceed a $50 fine," said Cochran.
That's right. As gruesome and disturbing as some may find this, the maximum penalty if caught fighting is only $50.
"Will the sheriff's office go there and give them notice to shut down?" asked Ramey.
"Oh, yea. We'll pay a visit at this location and speak to a few individuals and we'll have deputies there to make sure they don't have another event," replied Cochran.
The Humane Society of The United States says even if this operation is shut down, another will pop up in it's place and the torture will continue.
"Alabama has become the destination of choice for cockfighters who have been run out of every other state where they've set up operation. They come here because the penalties are the weakest in the nation," said Goodwin. "You can get more of a penalty for speeding in Alabama."
The group says the only way to bring this to an end is to change state law and toughen the penalties; a feat that will likely be challenged as it has in the past by those who call this an entertaining sport.
