Court documents unsealed in Jennings Circuit Court describe an alleged cockfighting operation, "Red Wheel Game Farms," that ran for years on a rural Indiana property before six people were finally arrested. Around 200 birds were kept at the site, and testing on two birds purchased in an undercover buy came back positive for multiple diseases — three of them serious enough that Indiana law requires reporting them to protect the state's poultry population. State animal health officials have recommended euthanizing the at-risk birds still on the property.

None of this should have gone on as long as it did. A neighbor reported the fights for months before enough evidence built up to act, describing dozens of vehicles and 50 to 70 people showing up for events. Investigators allege the operation was run as a business, complete with bloodline sales, out-of-state shipments, and cash moved through Zelle and PayPal, while the people behind it evaded Indiana taxes on hundreds of thousands of dollars in income.

Animal fighting is already illegal in Indiana, but cases like this only get shut down when someone reports them and prosecutors follow through. We're asking Jennings County Prosecutor Anne Marie Alcorn and Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita to pursue the full range of charges filed against everyone connected to Red Wheel Game Farms, and to make sure the animals still on the property are removed from harm without further delay.

Cruelty this organized shouldn't get a lighter outcome because it was profitable. Sign the petition to demand full prosecution and swift action for the animals still at risk.