Dog-fighting - 1 seized, others flee with owners
Mobile, AL (US)

Incident Date: Tuesday, Jan 29, 2008
County: Mobile

Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Alleged

Alleged: Devery Antwaune Dees

Mobile police arrested Devery Antwaune Dees on Tuesday and charged him with cruelty to animals in connection with dogfighting at a home near Ladd-Peebles Stadium, authorities said.

Dees, 39, was taken to Mobile County Metro Jail, where he was released on $500 bail, jail records show. The records listed his address as Ruth Street in Mobile.

Officer Eric Gallichant, a Mobile police spokesman, said Dees was arrested at a home on Flint Street.

Ellen Lursen, acting director of the City of Mobile Animal Shelter, said Wednesday that the shelter gets about three reports of dogfighting within the city limits each year, and she didn't consider it a major problem.

She said there is no city ordinance covering dogfighting, so the charge is cruelty to animals.

Gallichant said officers were sent to the 400 block of Flint Street at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday.

"When the officers arrived, they observed several subjects fleeing with dogs from the yard of a residence in that area," Gallichant said Wednesday in a news release.

Dees was in possession of a pit bull that was bleeding from what appeared to be recently received scratches to its face and legs, Gallichant said Wednesday in a news release.

Lursen said the pit bull was treated by a local veterinarian, whose report said its injuries were "consistent with dogfighting."

She said Dees has claimed ownership of the dog, which remained at the shelter Wednesday afternoon. Dees must pay the veterinarian bill in order to get it back, she said.

Cruelty to animals is a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail.

Alabama law says, in part, that a person commits the crime of cruelty to animals if he intentionally or recklessly subjects an animal to cruel mistreatment, cruel neglect or kills or injures an animal belonging to another person.

References

• AL.Com - Jan 31, 2008

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