Oklahoma outlawed cockfighting in 2002. A push to weaken penalties has some crowing fowl play

By SEAN MURPHY
Associated Press

WILSON, Okla. (AP) — Before Oklahoma became one of the last places in the U.S. to outlaw cockfighting in 2002, it wasn’t uncommon to see the bloodsport draw hundreds of spectators. Now, more than 20 years later, some worry Oklahoma is starting to waver. A proposal to weaken cockfighting penalties cleared the Oklahoma House. A political action committee is raising money to support farmers who raise game birds. And in a video since pulled from YouTube, Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt recorded a message supporting the group known as the Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission. A spate of recent cockfighting-related arrests in both Oklahoma and elsewhere is a reminder the practice has not been eliminated so much as driven underground.