Investigators say nearly 200 roosters were found diseased at a property known as the Red Wheel Game Farm in southern Indiana. Officials say the birds are sick enough that euthanasia is now the only option left for them. According to the Indiana Gaming Commission (IGC), the animals were bred and bought for use in fighting rings, as part of an operation the agency's Law Enforcement Division has spent nearly a year investigating across Jennings and Jackson counties.

This week, that investigation led to six people facing arrest and three properties being searched. Authorities say those involved are accused of buying birds to fight, plotting to run an animal fighting contest, conspiring to commit professional gambling, laundering the proceeds, and dodging taxes on the money.

"Today's search and arrests are the result of careful investigative work into an operation that is not only illegal, but cruel and inhumane," according to IGC Law Enforcement Superintendent Brock Pilgrim.

Nearly 200 birds will pay for this operation with their lives. The people who bred and fought them for profit should not get to walk away with a light sentence while the animals they exploited are euthanized. Jackson County and Jennings County prosecutors now decide how far this case goes, and Indiana's courts have a chance to prove that running an animal fighting ring carries real consequences.

Sign the petition to demand full prosecution of everyone connected to this cockfighting operation, so the birds who did not survive are not treated as an afterthought.