 Dog-fighting - 4 dogs
Covington, TN (US)Incident Date: Friday, Sep 30, 2005
County: Tipton
Local Map: available
Disposition: Open
Suspect(s) Unknown - We need your help!
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Police believe four pit bulls tied in a wooded area in Covington were trained to fight, and that people in the area were betting money on the outcomes of the fighting.
One of the dogs they found was already dead and the other three were in such critical condition they had to be euthanized.
The incident began for police last Friday afternoon when they were called to the Jackson Street area of the city, which is near Frayser Park. Lt. Allen Wilson, of the Covington Police Department said some neighbors in the area thought they had heard dogs fighting.
Wilson said police scoured the area and came upon a wooded patch in a lot just off of Jackson between Long and Bull Circle.
He said there was a �cut out� area in some saplings in the middle of the lot and that�s where the dogs were found chained up.
�You couldn�t see it from the street,� said Wilson.
Police contacted the property owner but realized he was not aware of the situation with the dogs.
�He was furious,� said Wilson.
The property owner also went to the location the next day and knocked down all of the saplings.
Wilson said the three dogs which were alive were being starved and were all chained up. One of them had a lock on it and police had to use bolt cutters to free the animal.
He said the dogs were �torn up,� noting they had one or more broken legs, one with its ears nearly completely torn off and all three with major gouges all over their bodies.
�They were fighting dogs,� said Wilson.
He�s also convinced people were using the dogs as a tool to gamble. He said empty whiskey and beer bottles were found at the location.
Wilson said he fears there is a trend in which people are raising the dogs to fight.
�When you tie a dog to a tree with very little water and no food, they are going to be aggressive,� said Wilson. �They were scared, hungry and very frightened.�
Wilson said when police approached the dogs, they were not aggressive.
The dog which was dead had a bullet in its head, he said. Wilson added that one of the neighbors said she thought she heard a gunshot the night before.
Wilson believes the fighting probably took place late Thursday night into the early hours of Friday because of how fresh the wounds were on the dogs.
Another major concern for police is that many children play in that area and Wilson fears if a child had come upon the dogs, the child could have been attacked.
�There are a lot of kids in that area,� said Wilson. �We want to nip this in the bud before it gets too bad.�
To do that, police need the help of citizens.
Wilson said if anyone has any information about the dogs or their owners, they should contact police at 475-1261.
�I�d like to put four animal cruelty charges on the people responsible for this,� said Wilson. Neighborhood MapFor more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.
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