Dog-fighting - nearly 30 dogs seized
Morgan City, LA (US)

Incident Date: Friday, Oct 3, 2008
County: Saint Mary

Disposition: Alleged

Abuser names unreleased

The Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office busted an alleged dogfighting compound on a remote island near Morgan City on Friday.

The SPCA went to Avoca Island in search of more than 24 pit bulls reportedly chained in a crude training compound.

"We're going to document it first before we remove them," said Catherine Destreza of the Louisiana SPCA.

A few yards into the woods, there was a lot to document -- kennels, cages, a device for weighing dogs, medicines used to treat injured dogs and boxes of spiked and weighted collars.

Officials also found barbells that were taped on a heavy dog collar and put on a dog's neck for weight training exercises.

"It's very cruel," Destreza said. "You can feel the weight of this."

Heavy chains were anchored to cement buried in the ground and then clipped to a dog's collar.

"You can see the circles," Destreza said. "You can see how the dog is able to run the circle, but he can't get close. See how close he can get to that dog and these dogs? See, how close they can get keeps them stimulated, but they can't get to each other."

Paul Hogan manages Avoca Island for his company. He found the dogs there about a month ago.

"These plastic barrels are their doghouses," Hogan said.

As recently as Thursday, the dogs were still there, Hogan said. By Friday morning, they were gone.

"Look, it's still burning; whatever he was burning is still burning," Destreza said. "Some of the fecal matter is still fresh. There were dogs here probably this morning that he moved; somebody tipped him off."

The SPCA said it might have missed the fighter and his animals. But with 30 dogs, he's sure to set up shop somewhere else, and when he does, the SPCA said it will be hot on his trail.

The Louisiana SPCA said the suspected owner of the dogs has been arrested before on charges of dogfighting.

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