Pit bull fighting ‘a huge problem here’

Note: I used to write for the River City Times. I’m not even sure this publication even exists any more, as I don’t write for it now and I haven’t seen any copies on the stands in months.

One of the article I wrote for the guy was this piece about dogfighting in Peoria. It was printed about two years ago, I think. Because there’s been some discussion about the practice because I posted a YouTube video. I thought it might add to the discussion to print the entire article. If the RCT objects, then the publisher can pay me what it owes me.

Naked people were in Peoria on Wednesday. Don’t get too excited. They were members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which means they are vegetarians and probably too skinny and emaciated to be attractive in the least. They were protesting the horrors of eating meat.

There are other things PETA could protest in Peoria, other than the fact that human carnivores actually *gasp* eat meat the way nature intended.

For example, dog fighting.

“It’s a huge problem here,” said Lauren Malmberg. I spent an hour talking about the subject with Malmberg, the executive director of the Peoria Animal Welfare Shelter.
I had heard that Peoria is a hotbed for dog-fighting, and I called Malmberg in hopes of arranging a ride along the next time they raided a dog-fight.

It doesn’t happen that way. The practice is so secretive, cops and animal welfare workers only find out about dog fighting after it happens. About 60 percent of the dogs that come into the shelter are dogs found running lose, and most of these animals these days are one of about four breeds considered “pit bulls” by the general public.

These dogs often bears the scars and open wounds that typically happen when they’ve been made to fight other dogs. That very morning, she put down seven dogs. Six were pit bulls.

“It’s not that we don’t like pit bulls, it’s just that they are the ones we come across the most.”

Culture

There are two kinds of dog fighting, Malmberg said.

Organized dog-fighting rings are operated by sophisticated criminals who travel from place to place staging fights in remote locations. Those who attend bet thousands of dollars on the fights. They suspect there are two or more people involved in organized dog fighting in the Peoria area, but they don’t fight the dogs locally.

Street-level dog-fighting is the problem in Peoria. It typically happens spontaneously, in backyards or basements. Participants sometimes break into abandoned buildings and use them to stage fights.

Dog fighting is tied to the gang and thug culture in which a pit bull is a “status dog.” When cops raid drug houses, they often find pit bulls that have signs of fighting.

“These guys you see walking their pits with their heavy chains aren’t just taking their dog for a walk. They are walking around showing off what they’ve got and how cool they are.”

It’s the shelter’s policy to not let unlicensed strays leave without being neutered. When some pit bull owners show up hoping to reclaim their dogs, they leave without them. It’s not just that a neutered dog isn’t a good fighter. These dogs often symbolize the owner’s own masculinity, and these macho men have no use for a neutered dog

Dog fighting is violent. And it’s a cycle of violence. Children see the fights and grow up thinking it’s perfectly normal. Investigators once found a VHS taken at a child’s birthday party that ended with a celebratory dog fight in the basement.

But there is an outreach program that puts shelter workers in city schools to talk about animal rights. Often, the little tykes will approach the animal control officers and proudly show them pictures of their fighting pit bull.

Crime

“In some areas, it’s not seen as anything other than a sport,” she said. “This is not a sport. It’s a crime and if we can catch them, we will charge them.”

It’s not at all like boxing, as some dog-fighting defenders claim. Humans have the ability to make a choice. Animals do not have that choice, and claims that fighting dogs are treated well are provably false. Her staff is always finding dogs that were abandoned after getting too old or two injured to fight.

Dog fighting is a class-four felony in Illinois and it’s punishable by a $10,000 fine and a year in prison. But it’s difficult to prove and difficult to catch it happening.

“Just because you find a dog with open wounds, you can’t prove they were dog fighting. All they have to say is that ‘my two dogs got into it in the back yard.’ How do you prove differently?”

Threats against animal control officers are common. But they happen more often when dealing with pit bull owners that those who own other breeds.

Malmberg tells of someone who recently threatened to put a bullet in an animal control officer’s head.

Motteler just laughed.

“It used to scare me. But we’ve all been threatened so many times, now it’s just ‘oh well,’” he said.

“The police department (and sheriff’s department) is absolutely wonderful,” Malmberg said. “They really take this stuff seriously,” she said.

Animals

“Pit bull” can refer to one of four breeds: American Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire bull terrier, American bull dogs and the English bull dog. These dogs are increasingly being bred with more exotic breeds that are even larger and stronger. Sometimes these animals show more aggression toward people than to just other dogs.

Even though pits are bred to fight, they can be wonderful pets when trained and socialized properly, Malmberg said, adding they have “playful clown personalities.”

It is rare for fighting pits to live past the age of three, she said. When an animal gets seriously wounded, the owners let them die, often not even bothering to put them out of their misery.

While organized dog fighters will medically treat their prize-winning dogs, street-level dog fighters aren’t as sophisticated. They certainly do not take them to veterinarians and risk the doctor calling the authorities

Non pits are endangered by this sick sport.

Motteler tells of finding stacks of carcasses of non-pit breeds at one location. The animals were strays or had been stolen, then were tossed into a ring with the pit bulls to train them to be killers.

Police recently found a badly wounded pit bull that was tossed into a trash bin.

“But these owners will tell us they love their dogs,” she said.

Conclusion

Malmberg seems like an easy-going person. She’s seen it all when it comes to animal abuse, but her anger at the idea of making these animals fight each other is palpable. She’s pessimistic whether it will go away. It’s just too ingrained in the culture.

“It’s sick,” she said. “These animals didn’t ask to be born pit bulls.”