WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. -- Target 32 investigator John Boel went undercover to investigate illegal cockfighting in the state of Kentucky. This is his report. It's one thing to break the law; it's quite another to flaunt it, or even advertise illegal activity.
In a state famous for Kentucky Fried Chicken, we found "Kentucky Fighting Chickens" are the real delicacy.
In fact, if you find a dead rooster these days, fowl play is suspected. But you don't have to travel far in Kentucky ... before you see chickens ... on a leash.
They're called cockfighting farms. Some are sprawling, Olympic-sized training centers for hundreds of birds.
"I mix 10, 11 different kinds of grains," said cockfighter Ken Critchelow. "I worm and de-lice these chickens once a month, just as regular as you make house payments."
Some are mowed and manicured better than many golf courses. It's not illegal in Kentucky to raise fighting cocks, but it's against the law in the Bluegrass to fight them.
"There's a little cruelty to gamefighting, but not that much," said another cockfighter, Ray Morgan. "They kill each other quick when they fight, if they're good bred."
One thing you can't call Kentucky cockfighters is chicken. We found these cocky fighters advertising their illegal events across the nation in magazines.
The Kentucky Derby happens once a year, but Kentucky cockfighting derbies are scheduled monthly, at huge, well-known arenas. Two Flags, near Dawson Springs in western Kentucky, and Roost Arena, near Williamsburg in southeast Kentucky, are two of the more popular venues.
So we invited undercover investigators with the Humane Society of the United States to join us on a hidden-camera visit to an illegal event that's flourishing in the Bluegrass.
We immediately discovered that Roost Arena is not a secret. We found hundreds of people in stadium seating, seven rows high, with padded, fold-down chairs. It's not hard to find, because signs are posted out on the highways.
The entry fee is $10 dollars for humans, and $150 for birds.
The bird gets to fight for his life. If he survives, his trainer gets a trophy. At high noon, 47 gamecocks are entered.
They start fighting in the huge, caged-in Main Pit, cockfighting's version of Wimbledon's Centre Court. If a quick death does not occur, the birds are dragged off into one of the many Drag Pits all over Rooster Arena, where we watched them peck, gouge and slash each other for up to an hour.
Like gladiators in the Coliseum, they fight to the death. Like traders in the New York Stock Exchange, the spectators roar, as some wager hundreds on these poultry playoffs.
Long, metal gaffs or knives are sharpened and attached to the birds' legs, making for a bloody, brutal fight to the death. It's rated PG, for pretty gory. Still, we saw flocks of children all over the arena.
After hours of watching this, we found the president of Kentucky's Cockfighting Club. We tried to ask him about his illegal event that rakes in thousands of dollars.
"I won't mess you up," the unidentified president said. "Let me go in and talk to my directors and see how we need to handle this."
Meanwhile, the cockfighting fans pouring out of the arena aren't happy about sudden television coverage of their sport.
"You can't make them fight," another unidentified cockfighter said. "They do it on their own. It ain't cruelty. If it got loose on the yard it's gonna kill something anyway."
That cockfighter isn't worried about a possible raid or bust because local police seemingly turn their backs on the activity. At the time of this undercover assignment, officers were roosting comfortably (pictured, left) in nearby Williamsburg.
Back inside Roost Arena, they're selling T-shirts that say "Legalize Cockfighting," and some are getting hungry. The large cafeteria has a big menu that includes hot dogs and hamburgers. But there's no chicken, or wings, and nobody's asking for that. In fact, they step over the losing birds on their way out.
Cockfighting derby organizers said that they would do an interview with NewsChannel 32 if we would not disclose the locations of their events. But we can't hide the facts.
The Whitley County sheriff refused to talk to us about why he won't crack down on Roost Arena. And state police did not respond to our enforcement questions.
Last month, Pike County Sheriff's deputies went into a cockfighting event and arrested two women for counterfeiting, but looked the other way when it came to cockfighting.
It turns out that Kentucky is far from alone in making cockfighting illegal. Only Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico allow cockfights.
Just Tuesday, the U.S. Senate passed legislation that would ban interstate shipment of birds for fighting. If this is signed into law, it would basically mean that there will be no more legal reason to have fighting birds in Kentucky, because it will illegal to fight them here. And it would be illegal even to transport them across state lines into a state where the sport is legal.
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