DOG FIGHTING | As many as a million animals involved nationally
Is increase in pit bull bites linked to a rise in fights?
Whether it be at highly organized events or at improvised encounters for ‘street cred,’ the activity is growing nationwide and goes largely unpunished in Missouri and Kansas.
By STEVE ROCK
The Kansas City Star
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The contents of the Kansas City backyard were a dead giveaway.
Hidden behind a privacy fence, animal control officers in August 2005 found all the trappings of a dog-fight training facility: a treadmill, a bar that dogs hang onto to strengthen their jaws, even a small kitten that animal control officials think eventually would be used as bait.
And a bunch of angry pit bulls.
As various communities debate how to deal with pit bulls, and as pit bull attacks continue to make headlines in the Kansas City area, one relevant subject remains largely off the radar: Dog fighting is a problem, both in Kansas City and throughout the nation.
“There’s no city that it’s not happening in,” said Eric Sakach, West Coast regional director of the Humane Society of the United States and a national dog-fighting expert. “Any city of size or consequence, every town, has some of this junk going on. The larger the city, the larger the problem.”
Because the activity is clandestine, it’s hard to quantify the number of people and dogs involved in dog fighting, which is illegal in all 50 states. The Humane Society estimates that, nationwide, more than 40,000 people engage in organized dog fighting and as many as 1 million dogs — most of them pit bulls, the breed of choice for dog fighters — could be involved at some level.
Dog fighting isn’t a glaring problem in most suburban areas, animal welfare experts said. And Kansas City area cities such as Leawood, Shawnee and Kansas City, Kan., have banned pit bulls entirely.
But in urban areas like Kansas City, in which pit bulls are allowed, it’s a different story.
Mike Schumacher, manager of the Animal Health and Public Safety Division at the Kansas City Animal Shelter, has cages of aggressive and scarred pit bulls to support his contention that dog fighting is a growing activity. He believes there could be a connection between dog fighting and the number of dog bites attributed every year to pit bulls.
And he and others are worried that state laws in Missouri and Kansas don’t have enough teeth and that scenes such as the one described above will continue to go largely unpunished because prosecution is difficult in animal fighting cases.
“Our state laws need to be completely revamped,” said Schumacher, whose office impounded and euthanized 12 pit bulls from the Kansas City property. “Either you witness the dog fight in progress, or there’s not a lot you can do.
“And that world is really difficult to infiltrate.”
Organized dog fights
Most experts agree that, while there may be overlap, dog fighters can be lumped into two categories: those who do it for profit and those who do it for entertainment at the “street” level.
The for-profit fighters operate high-stakes matches on a national level that feature dogs with experienced bloodlines. Thousands of dollars, even hundreds of thousands, can be at stake. Or, the fighters can be hobbyists who stage or attend local events and have smaller dollar amounts invested.
Either way, the for-profit world is seedy and sophisticated.
Sakach has investigated and witnessed 12 or more dog-fighting events and describes elaborate techniques used to ensure their privacy.
The locations of organized fights are kept secret, even to participants, until the last moment. Participants often drive caravan-style to their destination, with various stops along the way, and aren’t allowed to leave once they get there. There’s often a barbecue or other group activity that serves as a smokescreen, and people are assigned surveillance duties in case police or others pass by.
One expert said all dog-fighting activity stops if even an airplane or helicopter flies overhead.
“When you’re talking about a professional dog fighter, this is all or a large part of his livelihood,” said Kim Staton of Kansas City, an animal welfare consultant who works with police departments on dog fighting and other issues. “He’s going to do whatever he has to do to protect it.”
With fans watching from bleachers, often set up in abandoned rural barns, the dogs are placed into a ring and encouraged to attack one another. Organized matches can last from several minutes to several hours, though, Sakach said, an underground publication tabbed the average at about 45 minutes. Matches are often accompanied by other illegal activities such as gambling, drug dealing and possession of unlawful weapons.
The match ends when one dog quits or is no longer physically able to compete. Often, badly injured dogs are left behind, shot, stabbed, set afire or tossed aside.
A Humane Society video, shot surreptitiously at dog fights, shows one dog sinking his teeth into another dog’s neck while onlookers shout and cheer. Another dog was so badly injured that it couldn’t stand, staggering to the ground as blood poured from its wounds.
While experts in Missouri and Kansas can’t recall any sophisticated dog fight being busted locally, they say signs of dog fighting abound.
Lawrence police Sgt. Dan Ward remembers a 2004 case in which a 28-year-old male was arrested for, among other things, possession with intent to sell cocaine. At his residence, police recovered approximately 77 grams of crack cocaine, two .357-caliber pistols, one shotgun, nine pit bulls, dog chemicals and supplements such as amino acids, two dog-breeding notebooks and two dog treadmills.
More recently, at least six small dogs such as Jack Russell terriers disappeared from their Raymore backyards, prompting animal control officer Sharon McKinney to wonder if they were stolen by someone training fighters.
“It’s hard telling what this guy might have been doing with them,” McKinney said. “But he might have been using them for bait.”
Street dog fights
A video by rapper Jay-Z shows a snarling pit bull lunging toward the camera. The cover of the “Grand Champ” CD by rapper DMX shows a chiseled pit bull, tethered by a chain, standing triumphantly next to the “Explicit Content” label. A DVD titled “Hood Fights, Vol. 2, The Art of the Pit” features violent pit bull fights.
Pop culture references like these, experts think, are making “street” dog fighting more popular than ever. The fights often happen spontaneously. And while small sums of money may be at stake, the motivation is more about proving street credibility.
“It’s very much a status symbol,” Schumacher said. “ ‘My dog can beat up your dog.’ ”
Sakach said street fights, where experts are seeing the most-rapid growth, often take place in inner-city settings. And those fights are often over within minutes, giving law enforcement little or no time to do anything about it.
That frustrates Schumacher and others. They would like to see stronger laws in Missouri and Kansas that allow for prosecution even if police officers don’t catch participants in the act.
They point to states such as Louisiana, where state police officers arrested and charged 121 people with felony dog fighting between May 2005 and May 2006 and confiscated 678 fighting dogs and more than $25,000. There, state laws allow prosecution of individuals found in possession of dog treadmills and other paraphernalia that “is being used or intended for use in the unlawful training of a dog to fight with another dog.”
Missouri and Kansas laws make dog fighting a felony but don’t allow prosecution for possession of training material.
“Dog fighting is a horrific crime,” said Missouri Rep. Bryan Pratt, a Blue Springs Republican interested in animal welfare issues. “We need to make sure we have laws on the books to protect these animals. Missouri statutes simply aren’t strong enough.”
An official in the Johnson County district attorney’s office said that since 2000, nobody has been charged with unlawful dog fighting. Christine Willis, an assistant Jackson County prosecutor, only remembers one case in the last three years that reached the prosecutor’s office, but it never made it to trial.
But Sakach said the prevalence of dog fighting “is evident just by walking in any animal control facility.”
About 30 percent of the 115 dogs at the Kansas City Animal Shelter are pit bulls, Schumacher said. Workers there see pit bulls every week that have injuries consistent with dog fighting. Many show signs of being trained fighters: clipped ears that make it harder for other dogs to bite, toned physiques, overaggressive personalities.
“They come in horrible condition,” Schumacher said. “We’re euthanizing more of them than any other breed.”
And more than ever before.
In 2001, the facility euthanized 382 pit bulls. That number has skyrocketed since, totaling 980 in 2005. So far this year, 541 pit bulls have been put down.
Sometimes, injured or ill-tempered dogs wind up with Missouri Pit Bull Rescue, which tries to place abandoned pit bulls with good homes and makes owners sign a contract that states the dog “will NEVER be fought in any way.”
Janelle Fanning, a volunteer with Missouri Pit Bull Rescue, calls pit bulls “the most overbred, overabused dogs in the country.”
“It’s a much bigger problem than people want to realize,” she said. “It can happen anywhere.”
To reach Steve Rock, call (816) 234-4338 or send e-mail to srock@kcstar.com.