State Police, assisted by East Baton Rouge Parish animal control officers and Baker police, arrested a Baker man and seized 31 pit bull terriers from his back yard Thursday. State Police detectives obtained a search warrant for the residence of Yusef L. Chew, 4606 Greenwood Lane, as part of a continuing investigation into dog fighting in several parishes, Sgt. Michelle Arbour said.
State Police seized 14 pit bulls last week at a residence off Joor Road.
Arbour said Chew, 33, was arrested without incident and booked at Parish Prison with cruelty to animals and dog fighting.
During the investigation, State Police learned that Chew allegedly was selling dog-fighting videos on the Internet auction site, eBay, Arbour said.
In searching the home, detectives found a document indicating that eBay had banned Chew from using its services because of "illegal activity," but the type of activity was not specified.
The videocassette tapes were "how-to" videos on training pit bulls to fight, Arbour said.
Arbour said detectives also found evidence that videos were being sold from the site and that the yard was used as a pit bull breeding area and training site.
In addition to the dogs, officers seized a computer, stacks of documents and a homemade treadmill used in training dogs for fighting.
Some of the pit bulls were tethered with large, heavy chains, which Baker police Lt. Mike Knaps said is another tactic used to condition dogs to dragging heavy weights, such as another dog.
Knaps said officers do not believe the animals were being fought in Baker, but he and Police Chief Sid Gautreaux said the Police Department had received numerous complaints from neighbors about the dogs' barking.
Knaps said he saw one large dog dragging a smaller animal around the yard because their chains had become entangled.
The 31 dogs included 18 puppies, some of them less than two weeks old, animal control officers said.
East Baton Rouge Parish Animal Control Director Hilton Cole said his agency will hold the pit bulls until given further instructions by State Police.
Asked to describe the overall condition of the animals, Cole said, "The word 'fair' comes to mind."
Cole said several factors must be considered in deciding the fate of the animals, including whether the owner gives up control of them, but, generally, pit bulls seized by authorities have to be euthanized.
"They're not very rehabilitable. We wouldn't offer them for adoption," he said.
Cole also said Chew is in violation of the parish animal control ordinance because he did not have a permit "to have that many dogs on his property." Neighborhood MapFor more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.
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