Two game cocks, each with three inch razor sharp blades fastened to their left ankles, fight to the death at the Pasay Cockpit Arena on October 10, 2008 in Pasay City, Manila, the Philippines. Cockfighting, or Sabong as it is know in the Philippines
Korean Air has banned roosters on flights from the U.S. to the Philippines, following a report that found a large swath of Texas is tightly tied to supplying birds for cockfighting in the Asian nation.
According to the airline, the decision was based on care for the safety of animals.
While cockfighting is illegal in the U.S., breeding and selling roosters for agricultural or other benign purposes is not.
Korean Air restricts roosters
What they’re saying:
In a statement to FOX Local, Korea Air said the suspension applies to all roosters, regardless of age:
“Korean Air has suspended the transportation of roosters of all ages on routes from the United States to the Philippines. Korean Air is firmly committed to the lawful and safe transport of live animals, in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.”
The backstory:
Some months ago, an animal rights nonprofit called Animal Wellness Action (AWA) released an in-depth report calling an area including North Texas the “primary hub of illegal cockfighting” in the nation, with multiple reports of rooster breeders taking their animals to the Philippines for that purpose. That report claims Korean Air was the airline of choice for such operations.
What they’re saying:
“We are grateful to Korean Air for giving us an audience and allowing us to present the mass of information revealing that the company was being rooked by U.S. cockfighters, pretending to be “farmers” and benign “breeders,” but who have been supplying fighting birds to the Philippines every year by the tens of thousands and directly participating in the fights themselves,” the group said in a Monday statement after Korea Air’s announcement.
Texas as cockfighting ‘hub’
Local perspective:
The report came from AWA in October 2025, saying a stretch of U.S. land from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Dallas, and stretching as far east as the Tyler-Longview area, is known as the “Texoma Cockfighting Corridor.” According to the nonprofit, Texas, where cockfighting is illegal, serves as a massive supplier of the birds to areas where the violent sport is popular and profitable, including the Philippines.
Animal Wellness Action • THE TEXOMA COCKFIGHTING CORRIDOR
One large breeder of the birds near Dallas, North Texas Livestock Shipping Company, is noted in the report as “specializ[ing] in trafficking fighting birds to the Philippines.” They and other breeders are reportedly known to use commercial airlines to send roosters to Asia explicitly for cockfighting.
According to the nonprofit, these breeders rear the birds for the sole purpose of fighting. Those birds are then allegedly sold for as much as $2,000 each. Filipino authorities reported more than $12 billion in wagering on cockfighting in 2022, the report says, and large events like the “World Slasher Cup” can see nightly sums as high as $600,000 change hands over the sport.
What they’re saying:
“Cockfighting enthusiasts also breed and train and then export tens of thousands of roosters to Guam, Mexico, the Philippines, and other nations, despite federal laws banning such shipments,” the report says.
Texas cockfighting arrests
Dig deeper:
While cockfighting is illegal in all 50 U.S. states, arrests for the illicit sport are not uncommon within and around the Texoma Cockfighting Corridor. In just the past year, FOX Local station in Texas have produced at least a half-dozen news stories on large-scale cockfighting rings being broken up in the state, often leading to numerous arrests and dozens of rescued animals.
Read more:
The Source: Information in this article comes from Korean Air, Animal Wellness Action and previous FOX Local coverage.
