Inside America’s Biggest Dog Fighting Ring
Thanks to a report from CBSnews.com we get a look at the insider world of dog fighting and the united effort it took to help bring down these dog fighting rings.
“These are animals which are so eager to please. Yet they have been bred to fight and die for human amusement,” said Dr. Randall Lockwood, a senior behavioral psychologist for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which worked closely with law enforcement on the raids. “I do see dog-fighting as the greatest violation of that special bond between people and dogs.”
Kathy Warnick, president of the Humane Society of Missouri, said tips had come in from “multiple sources” about dog-fighting and anticruelty workers worked with federal authorities for 18 months. “This heinous, heinous blood sport is not going to be tolerated,” she said.
The national Humane Society said there also were arrests in Arkansas associated with dog-fighting, but no dogs were seized.
Dog-fighting is banned throughout the United States and is a felony in 50 states. A law enacted two years ago increased penalties for activities that promote or encourage animal fighting after a long campaign by animal-welfare groups.
Watch a video of federal agents as they raid dog-fighting operations in Mo. and Ill.
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Wayne Pacelle, president and chief executive officer of the Humane Society of the United States, said dog-fighting operations typically are not small acts of animal cruelty, but part of organized criminal networks.
“This was quite an operation and marks the latest in a series of actions that are driving dog-fighting, we hope, off the cliff,” Pacelle said.
The Humane Society of Missouri, working with other agencies, is sheltering hundreds of dogs; believed to be mostly pit bull terriers; seized in Missouri and Illinois raids and their conditions are being assessed. The dogs will be housed, cared for and evaluated at an undisclosed emergency shelter in St. Louis.
HSUS spokeswoman Jordan Crump, a spokesman with the Humane Society of the United States, said each dog seized in all the raids will be evaluated by behavioral experts in hopes of placing as many as possible in adoptive homes.
But the future is uncertain for many of the rescued animals.
“Many if not most of the animals will be euthanized. They have medical or behavioral issues that prevent them from being placed in homes,” said Lockwood of the ASPCA. “The greatest kindness that might be shown to them is a humane death.”
Many of the dogs seized from Michael Vick’s Bad Newz Kennels in the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback’s dog-fighting case fared better. Animal welfare groups said most were able to be placed in homes or sent to an animal sanctuary.
“The Vick case taught us to see dogs in these cases as victims,” said Donna Reynolds, with the Oakland, Calif.-based pit bull rescue and education group Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pit bulls, or BAD RAP.
“Animal welfare organizations will have to come together to ensure animals are comfortable in their confinement and they have the best opportunity to be evaluated, and if possible, offered rescue resources,” Reynolds said.
Seven people from Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska were indicted by the U.S. Attorney’s office in western Missouri. The indictment said the seven acquired, bred and trained pit bull dogs for fighting and denied medical treatment for wounds and injuries. One man used a .22-caliber rifle to shoot and kill two underperforming dogs, who fought in roll fights, shot each animal twice in the head, then placed the carcasses in plastic containers outside a garage, according to the indictment.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in St. Louis said five men were indicted there for allegedly running kennel operations to buy, breed, train, condition and develop pit bulls for fighting ventures under such names as Ozark Hillbillys Kennel, Cannibal Kennel and Hard Goodbye Kennel.
The men routinely abandoned, destroyed and disposed of pit bull terriers that lost fighting competitions, did not perform aggressively, or became injured or disabled while fighting, the St. Louis indictment said.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in eastern Texas said nine people were indicted June 30 on dog-fighting charges there. Two FBI task force officers working with a confidential informant posed as dog owners and attended fights in Texas and Oklahoma, according to the indictment. They managed to get video and audio from Jan. 17 fights near Tahlequah, Okla., by accompanying suspects to a remote country building for three dogfights, the indictment said.
Authorities said one man was indicted in Oklahoma and arrested Wednesday near Welling in rural Cherokee County. Five people indicted in southern Illinois for dog-fighting in St. Clair and Madison counties also were arrested Wednesday.
Once again it looks like the dogs will pay the ultimate price for man’s inhumanity, death.
I really hope they can do as much as possible to save these dogs from death. They never deserved the treatment they got and I hope the people involved in this massive dog fighting ring get the maximum punishment.
My heart goes with all dogs that couldn’t be saved. Thanks for all the people involved that help to save these little babies from the criminals around.
Thank you,
Lucia L
Wouldn’t it be something if we could punish those people in the same fashion they treated those poor Pit Bulls…how would they fare if the people that force these animals to fight were held in confinement, starved to near death then forced to face an opponent in a brutal match of survival. Thank God there are folks that care! There is a special place in heaven for them.
Only cruel humans would do this.Pitbulls,Rotties, Pinchers,etc get such a bad reputation because of people like this.Raise a dog with love and human kindness and it’ll be returned.Obviously these people lacked this themselves.Once more the innocent must suffer.I hope the jail term far exceeds what they have done to these poor innocent animals that only asked to be loved and cared for.This sickens me.
People like us our rare….we have opened our eyes to this horrible hobby of these inhumane, money hungry and insensitive ‘humans’…Im embarrased every day that I am part of the only species in the world to do something as inhumane and unethical as this!
WE HAVE to spread the word…educate others, other animal lovers, family, friends…so that the more public awareness the more these fools go down and we can put an end to this.
It is sad these dogs will most likely be euthanized…
I rescued a ‘bait dog’ a year ago, got her placed in a foster home and to see how much she suffered from being used as ‘bait’ to help the others fight, it was horrible….she was a beautiful Jindo ….Japanese dog used to fight like Pits.
Please continue to spread the word.
Reading about these poor dogs breaks my heart and makes me hug my rescued pit mix just a little longer.
I cannot imagine the cruel and brutal lives these poor dogs have lived up until now. Hopefully most can be saved, as in the case of Vick’s dogfighting ring.
I wish there were something I could do to help. God bless these special people who work so hard to save these dogs and hopefully are able to finally give them the loving lives they deserve.
And may the sick disgusting people repsonsible for this crime be severely punished and forced to live with the guilt of what they did forever.
The human offenders should be corralled, starved, mistreated and then put in a pen to tackle each other for survival – just as they imposed this uncivilized lifestyle on innocent dogs. My heart goes out to the dogs they could not save. Hopefully, the ones rescued can be rehabilitated to enter a loving home.
Humans and their greed are the root to all evil.
Lin
It’s disgusting and the ultimate act of betrayal. Even abused children have a voice and their bruises and injuries show, abused animals don’t stand a chance and the people who they look up to to love and care for them, don’t. They should throw the book at these people. In Chicago we have had cases of children being found at dog fights – what does that teach them? I realize this will be an unpopular comment but many individuals involved with dog fighting seem to fall within certains ethnic or socio-economic parameters, obvioulsy this is where teh effor to educate needs to be focused.
Thanks to all the time and energy that these people put in to help these helpless little animals. I wish that more could be done to help these dog before they have to endure all the cruelity. If only our laws were stricker maybe we could stop all this from happening to mans best friend.
It is nice to know we have people out there to help these poor defenseless animals. It breaks you heart to know that us as humans have such low ego’s that we have to suject an animal to such inhuman torture to have a laugh or to get money and to brag. In the meanwhile those animals don’t get ANTHING but hatred toward them so they will be mean. I just hope that some may be able to go to homes where all the love can be given to them.
Absolutely revolting, i completely agree with the quote that this is one of the biggest violations of a dog’s trust, these dogs were bred to be undyingly loyal and eager-to-please, to take advantage of this is morally despicable. God bless the ASPCA, and hopefully HSUS won’t try to get the ones that can be rehabilitated killed like they pulled with the ex Vick Dogs.
I cannot believe that anyone would want to hurt an innocent animal!!!! I have had animals since the first time I can remember. Each time one of them died, stray or one I had gotten. bought, or was given, I have never wanted to harm any animal. I wan 16, fresh license car, religious, fanatic, over bearing abusive parents, I never want to take my anger or anything else out on an animal or a child! It is not their fault!
It is truly horrible what is happening to these poor dogs. They never deserved their treatment and many of them now wait to be uthinized.