Eight State Dog Fighting Ring Broken Up and Dog Fighting Discovered at a Day Care Center

Michael Vick’s arrest for fighting dogs shocked America. Unfortunately, two recent dog-fighting busts are arguably more shocking, though they haven’t received the same national press.

Over 300 dogs were confiscated in the grandest dog fighting bust ever, encompassing eight states. Considered one dog fighting ring, it took Federal, state and local officials making arrests on various charges to about 30 people in various locations in Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, Illinois, Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Typical of dogs found on premises where there’s dog fighting, many were so mutilated, euthanization was considered the most humane option.

“Its shocking, how dog fighting is everywhere,” says Ledy Van Kavage, senior legislative analyst at Best Friends Animal Society, where some of the Vick dogs remain housed in Konab, UT. “it occurs in even in the most unsuspecting places.”

Perhaps no place can be more unsuspected for dog fighting than a day care center – not a doggy day care facility, a day care for children. That’s where the Cook County Sheriff’s office made three arrests on September 23, a day care facility in Maywood, a southwest suburban Chicago suburb. Nine dogs were confiscated, including a puppy missing an eye and a dog with a leg twisted backwards so badly that amputation is likely the only solution.  

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart says he’s “unsure” whether the kids at the in-home day care witnessed dogs actually fighting or being trained for fighting. “We know they saw dog training equipment,” adds Dart (in a phone interview following the raid I conducted on my WLS Radio, Chicago radio show). “There’s a pole that looks like a telephone pole with spikes in it that they chain dogs to or use for training and that was by the swing set in the yard.

“I think people now understand how horrible dog fighting is, not only to the animals, but also the impact on the community,” continues Dart. “When I began in the legislature over ten years ago, and I spoke about animal protection laws and dog fighting, people thought I had five heads. Today, they get it, that there’s a link; people who harm animals are more likely to harm other people. I just don’t know that people are aware of the enormity of the problem, spanning the entire country. Very few places are immune.”

Of course, it’s shocking that a dog fighting ring can be so organized to encompass eight states. Van Kavage explains, “Well, there’s a lot of very big money involved.”

Perhaps, even more shocking is the relatively small time operator allegedly conducting dog training and fighting from an in-home day care. On at least one occasion, the state Department of Children & Family Services (DCFS) responded to a complaint about the dogs. However, there was no report from the DCFS concerning the dogs made to the authorities, and the facility continued to operate undeterred. Dart says that a mandated cross-reporting law, which recently passed in Illinois, will prevent the state DCFS from ever looking the other way again. “It’s just like doctors have to report suspected child abuse; now in Illinois the DCFS will have to report suspected animal abuse.”

Van Kavage says several states have similar cross reporting mandates. But all states can benefit from similar measures. Perhaps, what’s most deplorable is that it’s possible, if not likely, that children at the day care witnessed the training and/or fighting of these dogs. “It’s shocking how often children are exposed (to dog fighting),” says Dart. “Imagine the horrors these children are witnessing.”

Gang members and other bad guys seem to understand that desensitized to violence when they’re young, kids are more likely to do as they’re told, committing violent crimes to people.

Van Kavage says that a few states (including Illinois) may add harsher penalties for dog fighters who expose children to the crime.  However, she says, all states need to do this. Van Kavage may also promote a first ever law to add an additional felony for fighting dogs within 500 yards of a school zone or day care.

“There’s only one crime worse than the morally reprehensible crime of fighting dogs, and that’s involving kids,” Van Kavage says.

Dart says that the bottom line is that communities who know where dog fighting is must fight back by reporting to the authorities, “A part of the problem is fear of retribution, intimidation, and culturally accepting dog fighting. This has to change – I’d like to think it’s begun to change.”

©Steve Dale, Tribune Media Services