B.C. dogfighting Vancouver Sun
Maimed dogs seized in RCMP raid returned to owner
Darah Hansen
Vancouver Sun
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Pit bulls are playing here, but they are also the preferred dogs for fighting
CREDIT: Reuters
Pit bulls are playing here, but they are also the preferred dogs for fighting
Organized dogfighting -- a bloody and highly secretive pastime pushed into the spotlight by the indictment of U.S. football star Michael Vick -- is happening right here in British Columbia, say police and animal welfare investigators.
A joint raid by RCMP and SPCA officers in 2005 on a rural property uncovered the grisly signs of a dogfighting ring, and resulted in the seizure of 25 pit bull-type dogs.
The dogs all bore the deep scars and wounds typically associated with animals made to do bloody battle -- often to the death -- for human entertainment.
Also found on the property was a "doggy treadmill" -- used by so-called "dogmen" to run their dogs into top fighting form before an event. Bite sticks -- a crude device used to pry open the powerful jaws of a pit bull, or pull one dog off another -- were also located on the property.
"All indications suggested that the dogs were involved in dogfighting," said Marcie Moriarty, general manager of cruelty investigations for the B.C. SPCA.
"Whether the fights took place here, or the dogs were bred here and shipped out of B.C., we don't know," she said.
They never had the chance to find out.
The case, as with other police investigations into organized dogfighting in B.C., resulted in little more than frustration.
With no one associated with the dogs willing to cooperate with authorities, no charges were laid.
The authorities eventually returned the dogs to their owner to face an uncertain future.
"To me, it was tragic," said Moriarty.
To date in British Columbia, there has been no conviction of an individual in connection with an organized dogfight.
Moriarty said that fact doesn't mean the activity is not happening in the province. The shadowy nature of the sport and its participants has pushed it far underground, she said: "The business can be quite lucrative and sophisticated in its organization."
According to RCMP Const. Annie Linteau: "What can hinder the investigation process is the fact that, quite often, animal fighting is being conducted out of the public view. The access to these events is heavily restricted and usually by the way of invitation only, so it's not like you can just stumble upon these events."
Linteau -- spokeswoman for the integrated illegal gaming enforcement team, a specialized enforcement unit made up of police as well as provincial anti-gaming officials -- said the fights often take place on rural acreages and are more common in the Lower Mainland among certain ethnic groups. She would not specify which particular groups are more likely to be involved.
"Typically," she said, "the participants don't often complain; hence it's a bit difficult to gather the information or to even know where [the fights] are taking place, or who's involved.
Linteau said many of the fights are linked to organized crime, or those involved in criminal lifestyles, with a lot of money potentially on the line.
"[Betting] can go up to thousands of dollars," said Linteau.
Dogfighting -- along with other organized animal fights -- is illegal in Canada, with charges associated with causing undue suffering to animals possible under the Criminal Code. Dog owners can also be charged under provincial legislation.
Those convicted face a maximum penalty of a $2,000 fine and six months in jail -- hardly enough for animal-welfare workers such as Moriarty.
"It's a horrible 'sport' of the gladiator-type era," she said. "You are pitting two animals together for the sole purpose of watching one of them die. It's one of the sickest forms of betting or gaming that I can imagine."
Moriarty said she's hopeful all the attention on dogfighting since the high-profile arrest of Vick -- who agreed Monday to plead guilty to federal charges in connection with an illegal dogfighting ring on his Virginia property -- may encourage those with information about the activity to come forward to authorities.
"The pessimistic side of me thinks that people who are involved at all, either watching, betting or actively participating in dogfighting are the type of people who don't care at all about animal welfare," she said.
A RECENT HISTORY OF ANIMAL FIGHTING
- 1998: Thirty-nine people were arrested in connection with a suspected cockfighting ring at a home on Thorn Street in Burnaby. Three were charged and one was convicted.
- 2001: SPCA officers seized 41 birds from the same Thorn Street house after police stumbled on a suspected cockfighting ring while investigating a shooting in the neighbourhood.
- 2004: Bylaw officers in Prince George were called to break up a dog fight in a city park. They arrived to find two pit bull-type dogs fighting, surrounded by a cheering crowd.
- 2005: B.C. SPCA investigators seized 25 pit bull-type dogs from a rural property at an undisclosed location outside the Lower Mainland. The dogs all had wounds typically associated with organized fights.
- 2006: SPCA officers in Prince George investigated claims of organized dogfighting after a female gas station attendant said one of her customers told her he was going to fight his dog that night. No evidence found.