For a fighting pit bull, life is short and violent
By Andrew Conte, Post staff reporter His tail wagging tentatively, the brown pit bull struggled to stand up in spite of deep red scars cut into his front legs and wounds to his muzzle and throat. He had been the apparent winner of what police have described as an illegal dog fight staged Sunday night in the basement of a Silverton home. Now he curled up on the concrete floor of a steel cage at a shelter run by the Hamilton County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The dog's vanquished opponents lay in two nearby cages, too weak to rise on their haunches and swollen about their bloodied muzzles. One looked up to greet a visitor as half his cheek flapped open, torn by another dog's bite. But even as grotesque as they appeared, the injuries were not entirely shocking to Sgt. Todd Manser, deputy warden. The kennel takes in dogs with fighting injuries and scars at least once a week. Many have hairless nicks and scrapes where other dogs have clenched at them; the most seriously injured had his entire muzzle torn away, leaving just cartilage from his nose and a bare lower jaw. ''It's like dope, guns and pit bulls,'' the deputy warden said of illegal dog fights. ''If the criminal mind wants it, they're going to get it.'' Despite stiffer penalties enacted in recent years, dog fighting remains a popular underground sport - especially among those who own and breed American pit bull terriers for that practice. Legitimate aficionados of the breed defend its reputation, but can hardly ignore that certain owners allow the animals to engage in brutal death matches. Those that survive are considered to have ''gameness'' or ''deep game'' - the will to keep on fighting despite heavy blood loss, open wounds and even broken bones. Those that do not, called ''curs,'' may wind up dead or abandoned for shelters to claim. With the practice of not letting pit bulls go for adoption, the Hamilton County SPCA must then put most of them to death. Even after nursing the three injured dogs back to health while two men await trial for fighting them, the kennel will ultimately have to euthanize the animals. The dogs were among 11 pit bulls found at or near a Silverton home where police said they discovered a dog fighting ring and paraphernalia Sunday night. Officers who searched the house at 6403 Stewart Road also found equipment to train dogs, chemicals to enhance their performance and pictures of dogs breeding, Manser said. The two men, Raymond Mattingly, 24, and Robert Williams, 46, face charges related to dog fighting. Once the sport of British ''gentlemen,'' dog fighting has been banned in all 50 states. Ohio has some of the toughest prohibitions, making felonies of engaging dogs in fighting, owning dogs for fighting and even watching fights. Kentucky and Indiana have more lenient penalties for dog fighting. Even so, the practice seems to have grown in recent years as it has moved into urban areas, said Norma Woolf, editor of Dog Owners' Guide, a regional newsletter based in Cincinnati. ''The pit bull seems to be the dog of choice of young men who want to prove how macho they are: 'My dog can beat your dog,''' she said. Dog fights can last for as long as two hours, until one dog either turns away or dies fighting. Even the winner may die hours or days after a battle from blood loss, shock, dehydration, exhaustion or infection. Owners of pit bulls that have not been trained to fight shirk from the notion that every dog of the breed poses a threat to other dogs or humans. The American Dog Breeders Association represents owners and breeders of American pit bull terriers, and disputes allegations that all pit bulls are born mean or bite most often. Carrie Swope, treasurer of the group's Indiana chapter, owns five of the dogs and keeps them around her young children. She defends them as ''one of the best baby sitters I've ever had.'' |