Animals

Pit Bulls Seized from Georgia Dogfighting Operation Killed This Week

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: Companion Animals, Pit Bulls, Animal Rights

Published June 20, 2009 @ 09:07AM PT

It happens far more often than any of us realize. We hear about it only when it hits the news in a big way, when the number of pit bulls seized is rather notable, or when a well-known nonprofit calls attention to the situation.

Far more often than we realize, pit bulls are seized and ultimately killed, in large groups and as individuals, because they're found during the bust of a dogfighting ring or because a city has enacted an anti-pit bull ordinance or even because the dog is interpreted to be dangerous because of some behavior or incident (in many cases, behavior or an incident in which the dog was provoked or in defensive mode).

Between 15 and 19 pit bulls seized during a bust were killed in Georgia within the past week or so, and although they were just few of many, they were all individuals with personalities and feelings, they lived through hellish abuse while alive, and they all deserve to be mourned.

The story broke a week ago (note that initial news stories gave varying accounts of exactly how many dogs were found, but 26 seems to be the final official number):

Authorities said the dogs had been tethered to the ground with logging chains attached to car axles driven into the ground. Many of the adult dogs were scarred from old fights, and one of them bore wounds from a recent fight, authorities said. . . .

Chuck Simmons of Norred & Associates said authorities acted on a tip it received three weeks ago that dogs were being bred on the property for fighting.

Norred & Associates is an Atlanta-based corporate security and private investigating firm. It does pro bono work for the Humane Society of the United States, Simmons said.

Simmons said investigators for Norred monitored the operation and turned over their findings to authorities.

“It turned out to be a hell of a tip,” he said.

The dogs on the property were using plastic barrels for shelter. Some of the chains the dogs were tethered to were connected by padlocks, Collum said. “There was no freedom of movement,” he said.

Two dogs and their puppies were in breeding pens that had not been cleaned. The dogs were living in their own feces, Collum said.

And then this week we learned the deadly fate of 15 to 19 of the 26 dogs:

Floyd County Animal Control officials say they will have to euthanize 16 out of 26 pit bulls that were seized from an alleged fighting operation last week at 209 Eden Circle.

Seven of the dogs taken into custody last week — an adult and six of her puppies — were adopted. A county ordinance that defines pit bull terriers as vicious animals prevents the dogs from being adopted in Floyd County. . . .

Jason Broome, Floyd Animal Control director, confirmed that two of the dogs have been put down because of their aggressiveness, and one was euthanized because of infections from fight wounds.

I say "15 to 19" because although news reports indicated all 16 remaining dogs would be killed this past Wednesday, an Atlanta CBS station reported a few days ago that 12 had definitely been killed already but that "officials are holding a pit bull mother and three of her babies to try to find a shelter that will take them." Because of the area's anti-pit bull ordinance, they'll be killed too (if they haven't been already) if a shelter in another area doesn't accept them. This is one of the many reasons I oppose breed-specific legislation (BSL).

I imagine that in areas such as this, law enforcement officers may see such ordinances not only (and wrongly) as public-protecting measures but also as a way to combat dogfighting and ultimately save dogs: If no pit bulls are allowed, and any pit bulls who are found can be taken from their caregivers (true caregivers or not), even without the hard evidence of dogfighting that would otherwise be needed to shut down the operations, perhaps they think that makes it easier to stamp out dogfighting in that one area. But doesn't it just mean that people will go (or keep the dogs housed) where there isn't such legislation or where the dogs won't be spotted? It seems like a NIMB solution, a solution that is more likely to just move the dogfighting elsewhere or further underground (e.g., with dogs kept in basements, never seeing the light of day, rather than kept on short chains in yards) than it is to stop it.

An interview with one of the police officers, at the site, appears below (no graphic images). I can only imagine what the emotional toll must be like on the officers and investigators who, over and over again, must be firsthand witnesses to this in areas where dogfighting is a continual problem. As I write this, Mabel the pit bull is curled up against me, a paw on my leg, her head resting on my hip, and her blind eye that I often forget is blind not-looking up at me. Someone beat the hell out of her and left her with an extreme, constant fear of people, yet she is loved and loving and alive--she is one of the lucky ones.

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Photo at top uploaded to Flickr by user Brit.