Two Men Charged with Dog Fighting
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.)
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
by nature. In the wild, dogs don't fight just for fun. 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,
Humane Society of the United States,
Last
Chance for Animals, or
Pit
Bulls on the Web
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www.thelancasternews.com
By Gregory A. Summers
March 23, 2005, HEATH SPRINGS, SOUTH CAROLINA - Two men were arrested Tuesday and authorities are looking for a third after a dog-fighting operation was discovered on New Hope Road. Johnny Lamont Gaither, 30, 1639 New Hope Road, has been charged with a violation of the animal fighting and baiting act. He was also charged with possession of anabolic steroids after investigators found a bottle to testosterone and a bottle of Dinabol inside his home.
Lee Otis Gaither, 31, 1996 Santa Barbara Drive, is also charged with a violation of the animal fighting and baiting act.Lancaster County Sheriff's Department investigator Danny Bennett said the two men are related, but he isn't sure how.
Lancaster County Sheriff's Department Capt. Craig Bailey said investigators found evidence that a dog-fighting ring had been run out of shop near Johnny Gaither's home for some time. However, Bennett said Lee Gaither admitted that he owns the property the shop is on. Fifteen pit bulls, including three that were seriously injured, were seized.
Lancaster County Animal Control officer Rudy Shipton said all 15 dogs had to be euthanized. "Something like this, there's no way you can adopt these types of animals out," Shipton said. "You just can't take a chance."
About 12:10 a.m. Tuesday, Bailey said the sheriff's department received an anonymous phone call that a dog fight was going on near Gaither's home. When deputies arrived, a sheriff's department incident report said they saw three men running from a shop in the back yard. They chased the men on foot, but lost them due to a large amount of debris and dogs chained throughout the yard.
The shop doors were open and the lights were on. Dog hair, blood and pieces of meat littered the floor, as well as a sponge and water. It appeared the men were cleaning up and taking a portable arena apart after a dog fight.
Investigators and animal control were called to the scene and Shipton said what they found was appalling. There were 12 pit bulls chained at various spots in the edge of the woods near the shop. Shipton said all the dogs appeared weak from a "severe lack of nourishment" and there were no signs of food or water whatsoever.
"Dogs that age should weigh somewhere between 50 and 55 pounds," Shipton said. "With the exception of two that were probably being used as breeders, I don't think any of them weighed over 25 pounds. They were all scarred up and you could tell that someone was definitely fighting them. They had not been taken care of."
Investigators also found three pit bulls in a kennel in the back of a pickup. The three dogs were bleeding from their necks and had puncture wounds to their sides, legs, paws and ears. "It was pretty bad," Shipton said. "Their wounds were visible and none of them could stand up if you didn't hold them up."
"What they do to these dogs is sick," Bailey said. "It's just downright vicious; I don't know how else to describe it."
A 1996 Ford pickup the dogs were in was seized. Investigators also found a disassembled fighting arena in the back of a trailer attached to a 1981 Chevrolet Suburban that was also temporarily seized as evidence.
Bailey said the arena, which was stained with blood, was made out of lumber and held together with screws so that it could be taken apart in a hurry. The men were actually taking it apart and loading it up when deputies arrived.
"An operation like this gives you the impression that they had been at it for some time," Bailey said. "We get rumors about this kind of activity all the time, but it's hard to catch anyone in the act. They'll set up on dirt roads or in remote areas, but by the time we get there, they're gone."
The report said Gaither's home was less than 40 feet from the shop and deputies questioned both him and a woman at the home. Both denied any knowledge of what was happening. After Gaither gave deputies the name of the other two men who were there, he was arrested, the report said.
