SHARK (SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness)
PO Box 28 • Geneva, IL 60134 • 630-557-0176
www.sharkonline.org

An Open Letter to Col. Phillip Burnett Jr., KY State Police Commissioner

Commissioner Burnett,

I am writing to you today, July 1, 2021, one day before the beginning of a long holiday of illegal cockfighting which will be ignored by you and your entire agency, on your watch. The animal cruelty and illegal gambling will be accompanied by drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, and human trafficking. Because there will be good people actively working to expose these crime scenes, there may well be extreme violence not just against animals, but also against people at the hands of the cockfighters.

If there was a single location in the Commonwealth where this violent, criminal behavior was being tolerated by you and the rest of the Kentucky State Police, it would be an outrage. In fact, we have repeatedly identified ten locations. They are again identified at the bottom of this letter.

SHARK has provided a wide array of evidence about these ten locations for criminal activity, including but not limited to undercover video recordings, printed schedules of upcoming cockfights, names and photos of pit managers, and images taken with drone and ground cameras.

These are not fly-by-night operations. They are commercial-size criminal enterprises involving hundreds of people, which have been operating in the same place for many years - some of them for decades.

The recurrent excuse given for the inaction of the state police is that the cockfighting pits are “under investigation.” To get that excuse for over a year is insulting, but we know that the inaction of the state police is far worse.

The last record I can find of the Kentucky State Police busting a cockfight is from early 2016, more than five years ago, in Calloway County. Meanwhile, we have been urging action against ten criminal lairs from the number one law enforcement agency in the Commonwealth for as long as a year ago, to no avail.

Over the next few days, millions of dollars will be in play by criminals involved in animal abuse, drug abuse, weapons and prostitution. This is organized crime, and you know about it, and you aren’t doing a thing to stop it. Shame on you and your entire command staff. Were I in a position of authority, you would be looking at charges for corruption and collusion.

Since I am not in a position of authority, I request that please, for the sake of the citizens of the Commonwealth, do the right thing and resign. You have betrayed Kentuckians long enough. Your legacy is one of capitulation to, and likely outright cooperation with the Cockfighting Mafia.

Sincerely,

Steve Hindi, President
SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK)

Active, Illegal Cockfight Locations

Butler County

Name: Shaker Hill
4492 Oakridge Road (KY 340), Morgantown, KY
Exact Location: 37.37368821714852, -86.60730646366524


Harlan County

Name: New Pinemountain Game Club / Robby & Bobby’s                   
Exact Location: 36.97577863597044, -83.21861046878902             
Located down a hill off Road 221, just outside Big Laurel.


Jackson County

Name: Congleton Hollow Road
This facility is located on Congleton Hollow Road, outside McKee,KY,
Exact Location: 37.4893839649102, -84.04273435809722
The Jackson County Sheriff and the State Police are aware of this pit, and allow it to operate.

Name: McKee Pit
Located outside of McKee, not far from the Congleton Hollow Road Pit
Exact Location: 37.483671, -84.059566


Laurel County

Name: CJ’s Pit
About 490 New Salem Road, London, KY
Exact Location: 37.1622952296983, -83.98467103401825

Name: Bald Rock Pits / Big H                                                                     
Les Arnold Road, London, KY                                                                
Exact Location: 36.9838196042341, -84.27952162441923


McCreary County

Name: Honest Abes
303 Low Gap Road, Pine Knot, KY
Exact Location: 36.663017053155315, -84.37399547504332


Pike County

Name: Blackberry
Left Fork of Blackberry, KY
Exact Location: 37.53408046633785, -82.21415774465909

Name: Hawk’s Nest (Saturday night)                                                      
Exact Location: 37°33’50.4"N, 82°13’33.6”W


Whitley County

Name: Steel Hollow Pits
Steel Hollow Road, Corbin, KY
Exact Location: 36.85810395353928, -84.09464395016302