Dog fighting
South Carolina authorities are cracking down on dog fighting, which is good:
The state began its crackdown on dogfighting in March at the request of animal welfare groups, which help authorities in investigations but in South Carolina generally cannot make arrests. The groups pledged about $60,000 to pay the initial salary and expenses of a SLED investigator for dogfighting, agency spokeswoman Kathryn Richardson said.
Even before the crackdown, animal welfare groups had conducted a training session on dogfighting for law enforcement agencies in 2003.
A month later, police made a key arrest in Orangeburg County. Sheriff’s deputies found more than 50 dogs living in fetid conditions. Many were chained to the ground; some had bloody cuts. Deputies also discovered a pit used for dogfights.
The article also addresses cultivating aggressiveness in the dogs:
Dog owners who train pit bulls to be aggressive run the animals on treadmills or have them chase cats on a machine that resembles a crude carousel. The carousel, known as a “jenny,” puts a cat just out of reach of the dog, which runs around the circle repeatedly trying to bite the cat.
For practice, some pit bull owners will throw weakened animals into an arena with a highly aggressive fighting dog.
A home video, seized by the Richland County Sheriff’s Department during a Columbia-area drug investigation in the past two years, graphically depicts the brutality of a fight.
The video shows pit bulls biting each other’s faces, necks and ears. The dogs pant heavily but continue to attack each other for about an hour.
A handful of people, including at least one child, sit around the makeshift fighting pit as the dogs’ handlers shout encouragement to the animals. One fan wears a T-shirt with a large picture of a pit bull on it.
The pit is a square arena, made from wooden boards and covered with what appears to be carpet. Blood stains the floor.
“Bite his head off! Bite him up, Rocco,” one man says to a large, brown dog as it chews the throat of a smaller, black pit bull.
When the fight ends, one fan pulls out cash that investigators say is presumably for a bet.
Authorities say betting pots easily can exceed $100,000.
Pretty brutal stuff.
June 7th, 2005 at 12:07 pm
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