Many people end up at www.UnchainYourDog.org because they are looking for information on dog fighting. We agree with hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons that Cruel's Not Cool (Listen to Simmons or see poster).

Please, have a heart and treat other living and feeling creatures the way you want to be treated: with respect and kindness. Dogs are social animals who - in the wild - hunt together, sleep together, and play together. It is a dog's nature to respect the pack leader and get along with the rest of the pack. Not to fight. Dogfighting is cruel, unnatural, and wrong.

Dog fighting is a felony, so report it to the police! To learn more about dog fighting and how to stop it, visit our Dogfighting page.


 

S.C. Cracks Down on Dog Fighting: Savage, Underground Blood Sport Faces Scrutiny

www.thestate.com

By Sammy Fretwell

Oct. 17, 2004, SOUTH CAROLINA-- Inside the makeshift arena, a pit bull locked its jaws on the leg of another dog, breaking the animal’s limb with a blood-spurting crunch.Fans roared. Handlers encouraged the dominant pit bull to finish the fight, and eventually it did, mauling the other dog so badly its owners stopped the match. Minutes later, the losing dog’s owner shot and killed the crippled animal.

Henry Brzezinski stood in the crowd and shivered. He just had a rare look at the underground world of dogfighting in the Carolinas.“You could hear the dogs kind of gnawing at each other, tearing at flesh,” said Brzezinski, a former investigator with the Humane Society in Columbia.

For decades, scenes like the one he witnessed produced only passing interest from police. But after years of sporadic enforcement, South Carolina has launched an organized campaign to stop dogfighting. It’s a savage, centuries-old sport that today is associated with violence, drug-dealing and high-stakes gambling — a mix of illegal activity that is hard to ignore.

Attorney General Henry McMaster said he wants to prosecute dogfighters to get at the sport’s increasing connection to drugs. Of equal concern is cruelty to animals and attacks by fighting dogs on people. Just last week, Richland County authorities confiscated 13 pit bulls in a dogfighting probe. No one was arrested in that case, but other investigations have produced charges.

“This is all secret, never publicized, and it’s horrible,” McMaster said. Since he formed a dogfighting task force last spring, state and local authorities have made criminal cases against at least 28 people suspected of dogfighting or owning equipment used to support it. Authorities have confiscated at least 187 pit bulls, the primary breed used in dogfights. And McMaster’s office is preparing to prosecute Lowcountry pit bull breeder David Tant, who faces life in prison if convicted on 41 counts of violating dogfighting laws. Investigators say Tant is a major player nationally in the underground dogfighting industry, an accusation he denies.

No one knows for certain how lucrative the sport is. But a national police video shown recently in Columbia described dogfighting as a $500 million industry. The money is made through betting, gate receipts, drug deals and dog sales.

Whether South Carolina authorities can wipe out the sport depends on several factors. Few dogfighting cases have gone to trial in the state — so court victories could help establish legal precedent and bring more attention to the need to combat the sport. McMaster also wants state law changed so he can seize the assets of dogfighters to help fund dogfighting investigations. He and State Law Enforcement Division investigators say dogfighting has spread across South Carolina.

Tant, who has advertised dogs for sale in magazines that police say promote dogfighting, said the state’s priorities are misplaced. “Let’s get things into perspective,” said Tant, whose case is scheduled for trial Nov. 1. “We need to set priorities on protecting kids ... before we go overboard protecting animals. It is a lesser evil than some of the things underage kids are put through.”

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. An Orangeburg man, Ricky Hanton, ultimately pleaded guilty to animal-fighting charges.

“When I looked at one dog with part of his face ripped off, it was morbid,” Orangeburg Sheriff Larry Williams said. “It touched me, and it touched my officers. The cruelty to animals for sport, recreation and betting is senseless.”

CULTIVATING AGGRESSION

Dogfights are particularly barbaric, some say, because pit bulls won’t quit until one is near death. In some cases, dogs die during matches. Pit bull owners argue the dogs are loyal, sweet-tempered and make good family pets, but they agree dogfighters can make the animals mean.

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. Orangeburg County resident Charlie Shuler said betting makes the sport addictive. Shuler, who he said he has stopped going to fights, was attracted to dogfighting as a teenager, thinking “it was pretty cool. You can come back ... and have 60 grand in your pocket,” he said. “If these dogs are already aggressive from the time they are a puppy, you put them in the ring and let them fight it out.”

INGRAINED IN THE CULTURE

By some accounts, pit bull fighting has existed in America since the early to mid-1800s. It increased in popularity after the barbaric sport of “bull-baiting” — having dogs attack bulls in an arena — became illegal in England in about 1835, according to the book “The World of Fighting Dogs.” As dogfighting became more popular, fans realized the bulldogs used to attack bulls weren’t quick enough to fight other dogs. That gave rise to the pit bull, a powerful and energetic cross between a bull dog and a terrier.

Today, the Humane Society estimates 40,000 people are involved in dogfighting nationwide. Fans of the sport share information through Web sites and magazines that list fight results. The fights range from unorganized, low-level street brawls to highly organized events. In the more organized form of the sport, promoters will secure property for a fight and invite owners to bring dogs for matches. Winning dogs are known widely among fight fans, and their owners take them on a loose regional circuit of ever-changing venues to keep police in the dark. Puppies of champion dogs can sell for thousands of dollars.

For three decades, dogfighting fans and fight promoters have gotten news from the Sporting Dog Journal, the nation’s most prestigious underground dogfighting magazine, authorities said. It has tracked winning dogs and offered others for sale. Last year, however, New York authorities arrested the magazine’s publisher, James Fricchione, on charges related to dogfighting. And in July, Pennsylvania authorities charged Fricchione and the previous owner with using the publication to promote the sport. Pennsylvania Attorney General Jerry Pappert said the 10,000-circulation magazine contained the results of clandestine dogfights and ads for equipment used to train fighting dogs.

James Herkenham, Fricchione’s lawyer, said his client “is just a regular guy who likes dogs.’’ He is appealing the conviction in New York of promoting dogfighting and animal cruelty. “This is a witch hunt,’’ Herkenham said. “He publishes this magazine and has a First Amendment right to publish." In a 1996 edition of the magazine obtained by The State, letters to the editor discuss pit bull training and some dogs’ victories. An article criticizes television shows such as “Lassie” and “Lou Grant” for vilifying dogfights. Dogs in the magazine have nicknames that play on the words “menace,” “evil” and “savage.”

Some state authorities — and even the CIA — have asked to see the magazine’s subscriber list, confiscated in New York, according to Randy Lockwood, a national Humane Society dog behavior expert who has testified in high-profile cases. The Sporting Dog Journal also was being sent to Afghanistan and other areas that export fighting dogs to “raise money for terrorist activities,” Lockwood said prosecutors have told him. CIA spokesman Tom Crispell said he could not confirm the report. Prosecutors in New York could not be reached for comment.

Dogfighting cases, however, can be hard to make. Often, people staging fights will announce matches only hours before they start; they disclose the location to small groups of carefully screened fans. Dogfighters often meet fans at a central spot and then take them on a circuitous route through the countryside before arriving at the fight venue. In one case, a group of people met in Orangeburg County but wound up in Dillon County for the match, said William Frick, the attorney general’s dog-fighting prosecutor.

Anyone from a good ol’ boy in a pickup truck to an inner-city drug dealer will attend dogfights, said Brzezinski, who now works in northern California. He said European women and well-dressed couples witnessed the fight he attended in 1990 to gather evidence. The fight was in a barn in the mountains.

In addition to cruelty concerns, McMaster also worries that pit bulls trained to fight will attack people. Children are particularly at risk because their small size can lead fighting dogs to view them as rivals, said Steve Stephenson, an investigator with the Humane Society in Columbia. A federal study found that pit bulls and pit bull mixes killed more people than any other dog from 1979 to 1998.

DRUGS AND DOGS

Increasingly, drug dealers have gotten involved in dogfighting, McMaster said. Menacing dogs are a status symbol, authorities say. And sometimes, the dogs are used to guard crack houses, said Judy Outlaw, a Humane Society official in Greenville.

Kendall S. Glover illustrated the drug link during a major federal cocaine-trafficking trial last year in Columbia. Glover, an admitted drug dealer from New York, testified in federal court that he and another dealer owned fighting dogs and kept them behind a north Columbia trailer. People bet “major money” at fights involving the dogs, Glover testified.

He and the other dealer, Darren “Coolie” White, bred pit bulls that drew prospective buyers from across the South, Glover said. The trailer they frequented on Campground Road also was used as a receiving point for drugs, Glover said. He said he received marijuana at the trailer from a Savannah man they had met through “dogfighting and hanging out.” After White was arrested on drug charges, Glover said he went to the trailer and took the pit bulls. When pressed by an attorney, Glover admitted that friends of his killed seven unwanted dogs by putting an electrical wire in their mouths.

A federal court convicted White of dealing cocaine in May 2003. Today, he is in federal prison, serving a life sentence. Glover, in exchange for his cooperation, received a sentence of less than six years in prison, instead of the more than 10 years he faced, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Columbia. Neither man was prosecuted for dogfighting. Federal drug charges produce tougher penalties. That is why federal officials do not routinely take on dogfighting cases.

Another case — which has yet to come to trial — involves Randall Lee Daniels, a Swansea man who was among 19 people charged last spring in a major cocaine bust. During a search near Swansea, authorities found more than a dozen pit bulls and evidence of dogfighting, according to state arrest warrants for Daniels. Some of the animals had fresh scars, indicating recent fights, the arrest warrants said.

In addition to federal charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, Daniels faces multiple state charges of animal fighting or baiting, which is preparing animals for fighting. His lawyer was reluctant to discuss either set of charges. “It would be unfair to pre-judge the guilt or innocence of Mr. Daniels, either on the pending drug case or the potential charges involving animal cruelty, based on a supposed connection between the two,” his lawyer, Jan Strifling, said.

PREPARING FOR TRIAL

In South Carolina, where the penalty for dogfighting is up to five years in jail or a $5,000 fine, cases have been few and far between. The only major dogfighting case that has been resolved since McMaster’s push began — against Orangeburg resident Hanton — resulted in a guilty plea and probation.

McMaster’s biggest pending case involves Tant, who authorities say is the nation’s No. 2 pit bull breeder. Success in this case could determine how future cases are prosecuted. The state’s inexperience with dogfighting trials makes the Tant case a challenge, said Frick, the prosecutor.

Meanwhile, authorities say they have plenty to do, particularly as the weather cools. Dogfighting usually picks up in the fall and winter. That’s because animals can fight longer and harder without getting overheated, experts say.

While authorities investigate dogfighters, the question of what to do with the dogs themselves remains a challenge. Animal shelters are overcrowded. And many do not want to care for aggressive pit bulls. Many would rather put the dogs to death. The Columbia animal shelter immediately euthanized the 13 dogs seized last week in Richland County after a judge declared the animals dangerous.

Judges also can keep the dogs alive, as the North Charleston shelter has learned. Tant argues his dogs are evidence. But holding more than 40 of Tant’s seized pit bulls has cost Charleston County more than $121,000, shelter officials said. “We can’t even house all these dogs in the same building,” said Charlie Karesh, president of the board that runs the animal shelter in North Charleston.

Nonetheless, Karesh, Brzezinski and other animal welfare supporters applaud the state’s new initiative. Brzezinski said police often cooperated with him, but only after he dug up most of the evidence himself. “This is a great way to go,” he said of South Carolina’s effort. “Hopefully they will uncover a lot more.”


[top]
[top]