Dogs' Blood Brings Big Bucks
Jan. 27, 2003 -- -- The crowd was cheering inside an auto body shop, long after it was closed for its normal business, but what they were cheering for was blood — the blood of a pair of dogs, locked in a vicious battle to the death.
"It was almost reminiscent of a professional boxing match," Franklin County Sheriff's Department Detective Dave Hunt said. "People yelling and screaming, rooting on their dogs. Alcohol — everybody drinking. It was a social event, but there was blood everywhere."
That was the scene that Franklin County, Ohio, police and animal control officers say they found recently in a raid on an organized dog fight that had drawn participants from New York, Virginia, Alabama, Maryland and Washington, D.C., to the auto body shop in Columbus.
And with arrests of 40 people, the confiscation of nearly $25,000 in cash as well as handguns and drugs, the event was yet another example of what law enforcement and animal welfare officials around the country say is a rapidly growing problem.
Dog fighting has developed over the last 15 years from the bloody pastime of amateurs in backyards and vacant lots, to a big business, with events organized like professional boxing matches, tens of thousands of dollars bet on which dog is toughest and purses of up to $100,000 for the winners.
While much dog fighting is still what the Humane Society of the United States calls "street fighting," impromptu or loosely organized fights using dogs with little or no pedigree as a fighter, there is another level of the bloodsport.
Using the Internet, people who want to buy fighting dogs and are willing to spend as much as $10,000 are able to find breeders advertising animals with the bloodlines of killers, and the Web is also used as tool for organizing fights that draw participants and spectators from far and wide, police and animal welfare advocates say.
Federal legislation is being introduced in both the Senate and the House to make it a felony to transport a dog across state lines for use in fighting, and at least four states have measures pending to stiffen the penalties for dog fighting.
The Ohio State Department of Agriculture presented a set of proposals to the legislature on Jan. 22, asking for measures to strengthen anti-dog fighting laws, stiffen enforcement and increase public awareness campaigns. In Virginia and West Virginia legislation is pending that would create RICO-type statutes to allow police to pursue those involved in dog fighting.
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