Dog-fighting - 27 dogs, drugs seized
Mobile, AL (US)Incident Date: Tuesday, Sep 1, 2009
County: Mobile
Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Not Charged
Person of Interest: James Hancock
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
Mobile County animal control officers confiscated 27 dogs Tuesday afternoon from a north Mobile County home during an investigation into dog fighting, officials said.
James Hancock, 60, who lives at the residence at 5641 Marshall Road, was arrested on a charge of first-degree marijuana possession after nine marijuana plants were found growing on the property, Mobile County Sheriff's spokeswoman Lori Myles said.
Nancy Johnson, a Mobile County spokeswoman, said the dogs, all pit bull and pit bull mixes, will place a strain on the already crowded Mobile County Animal Shelter.
Johnson said the dogs from Hancock's land will have to be isolated for up to 20 days, putting as many as 30 adoptable dogs at risk of being euthanized because of space problems.
Animal control officers were called to the residence, at a dead end at the bottom of a hill a half-mile south of Kushla-McLeod Road, after receiving a complaint about an injured animal, Johnson said.
She said the dogs, as well as dog-fighting equipment and what appeared to be a fighting pit, were found during the recovery of the dogs. Two severely injured dogs were among those found, and one dog was dead at the scene, according to Johnson.
She said the Mobile County District Attorney's Office will be presented evidence today for possible charges. Dog fighting is a felony in Alabama.
Meanwhile, Hancock was in Mobile County Metro Jail on $2,500 bail on the drug charge.
A neighbor on Marshall Road, who asked not to be identified, described Hancock as a "loose cannon" and said he long suspected dog fighting was taking place at the home.
The neighbor told the Press-Register he was on his porch at about
2 a.m. one recent morning when he saw a large amount of traffic -- "one car after another" -- leaving the home.
On another recent occasion, he said, he found a badly injured female pit bull, which he said appeared to have just given birth, wandering in the neighborhood.
Johnson said the public can help alleviate the crowding at the county animal shelter by adopting one of the approximately 30 dogs on hand that were not involved in the fighting operation.
She said people interested in adopting a dog can visit the shelter at 7665 Howells Ferry Road, call 251-574-3230 for information or visit online at www.mobilecounty animals.com to view pictures of adoptable dogs.
Case UpdatesA man who had 27 pit bulls and pit bull mix dogs confiscated Tuesday in a dogfighting investigation now faces felony charges in connection with the probe, authorities said.
Warrants were signed today charging James Hancock, 60, with felony cruelty to animals and felony activity related to dogfighting. Hancock, who was arrested Tuesday on a first-degree marijuana possession and later releaed on bail, has not yet been re-arrested on the new charges.
The dogs were seized by Mobile County animal control officers Tuesday afternoon from Hancock's home at the end of Marshall Road ni Kushla, county spokeswoman Nancy Johnson said. The marijuana charge came when deputies found pot plants growing at the residence, authorities said. | Source: Press-Register - Sept 4, 2009
Update posted on Sep 4, 2009 - 11:44PM |
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