Abused Pit Bulls Found Behind Elizabethtown Home
www.bladenjournal.com
By JEFFERSON WEAVER Staff Writer
September 10, 2004, ELIZABETHTOWN, NC -- An Elizabethtown Police Sergeant shot and killed a pit bull dog Thursday while it was attacking another animal on Emma Street.
Officers then found a number of other animals at a nearby home that show signs of possible abuse.
Elizabethtown Police chief Bobby Kinlaw said Sgt. Gary Britt and other officers were responding to a 911 call about a disturbance on Emma Street shortly before noon Thursday when they found the dogs.
Communications officers told officers they could not understand what the caller was saying, Kinlaw said.
Upon arrival, the officers spotted a pit bull dog attacking another pit bull in the back yard of 309 Emma Street. The dog that was attacked was tied, while the other was running loose.
"The officers said the attacking dog had the other one on the ground by the throat, shaking it," Kinlaw said.
Officers called for Animal Control, but before Animal Control Supervisor Larry Martin and Officer Ted Carter arrived, Britt was forced to shoot the dog.
"It was becoming a safety issue for the officers as well," Kinlaw said.
He fired a warning shot, which briefly slowed the attacking animal, "but it just kept on coming back," Kinlaw said. The dog died at the scene.
The injured dog was taken to an area animal hospital.
While trying to find the owner of the shot animal, Kinlaw said, Britt spotted a number of other dogs tied in the woods near a trailer behind the home. No address on the trailer was visible.
At least nine dogs and puppies were found staked out at corners of the lot and in a small patch of woods.
The puppies, ranging in age from 12 weeks to full grown, were tied to trees, chained with large towing chains and steel cables. Several puppies were in an open metal cage, while others were tied out on chains they could barely pull.
At least one of the dogs was confined in a locked pet carrier.
Feces, urine and rainwater were standing in the bottom of the carrier.
Another of the pit bulls, a female, appeared to have had her ears chewed off. Others showed healed scars and marks on their paws and legs. Many of the dogs had no food or clean water, and some were being kept on chains as short as four feet.
While there was no immediate evidence that the dogs were being kept for fighting, officers said the heavy chains, cables and living conditions were typical of those used to make dogs more aggressive.
A man who told Martin and Carter he owned some of the dogs said the animals were not used for fighting, and that he had entrusted the care of the animals to someone else.
The dogs were confiscated and taken to a facility in Columbus County. If the dogs' owners can show proof of vaccination, the animals may be returned when the investigation is completed, Martin said.
No charges have yet been filed in the case. While Elizabethtown officers were called to the incident, it occurred barely outside the city limits. The Bladen County Sheriff's Department and Animal Control will be investigating.
