PETA Accuses Oklahoma Firm Of Supplying Pigeons To Taiwanese Gambling Syndicate

PETA has accused a company in Oklahoma City of supplying a Taiwanese gambling syndicate with pigeons to use for illegal races, TulsaWorld.com reported.

A months-long investigation allegedly uncovered a lucrative industry involving pigeon racing. The birds were imported from other parts of the world.

The Oklahoma City-based Continental Breeding Station is accused of providing some of the animals for the gambling operation.

According to TulsaWorld.com, Richard Mardis, the former owner of Continental Breeding Station, “already faces felony gambling charges in Oklahoma County as a result of another PETA investigation that authorities say exposed illegal pigeon races in Oklahoma.”

“It’s not about specifically who is doing it; it’s about the fact that this activity is going on,” Jared Goodman, PETA’s director of animal law, told the website. "This is a cruel underbelly to an activity that many people aren’t aware exists.”

According to a New York Daily News article on the topic of pigeon racing, the competitions typically involve driving the pigeons hundreds of miles away from their coops and then releasing them. The bird that flies home the fastest is deemed the winner.

PETA asserts that roughly 40 percent of the birds make it back alive.

Organizers deny that the activity involves gambling and say there isn’t animal cruelty.

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