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Case #9660 Rating: 4.2 out of 5
Dogs bred to fight
Bay Minette, AL (US)Incident Date: Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006
County: Baldwin
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Lee Allen Jackson
Case Updates: 2 update(s) available
A Bay Minette man who police said bred pit bulls to fight in his back yard faces a charge of cruelty to animals.
Lee Allen Jackson, 43, who also uses the alias Lee Jackson Carter, had at least seven dogs -- three adult females and four puppies -- at his home on Moran Street that Bay Minette Police Chief Michael Rowland called "vicious."
While the adult dogs had scars and apparent injuries from previous fights, Rowland said the 4-week-old puppies had apparently not fought.
Rowland said police received a tip on Sept 19 from a neighbor who observed two dogs fighting in Jackson's backyard.
No one was watching the dogs, who were "engaged in a death grip on each other," and a police animal control officer found Jackson to try to break the dogs apart, the chief said.
Jackson refused and the officer used pepper spray on the animals, but that did not separate the two, Rowland said.
"At this time there were some obvious, extremely serious injuries to one of the animals," the chief said, adding that the dog suffered "a number of cuts and punctures to its body," along with "quite a bit of damage to its mouth area, bruises and cuts and tears."
Police then shot and killed the dominant dog and seized the injured pit bull.
Jackson was taken to the Baldwin County Corrections Center and released Wednesday, when police picked up two more adult female dogs and the puppies, Rowland said.
Authorities contend Jackson had been using the dogs to fight for entertainment or money.
The dogs removed from the home were being cared for by Bay Minette animal control authorities while Jackson awaited a court date, which had not been set as of Thursday, according to Rowland and court records.
Once the case is resolved, the dogs will be euthanized, Rowland said.
"These animals will only be kept long enough for court time ... because they're bred specifically for fighting, and they're vicious," Rowland said.
John Reuss, executive director of the Baldwin County Humane Society, said pit bulls are not normally taken into shelters in the county. The group practices a no-kill policy, but he agrees that extremely ill or vicious animals can be the exception.
"If these dogs have been trained to fight, it's not likely that they are going to make a good pet," he said. "I know that there are people out there who feel that pit bulls are no less dangerous than other breeds, but it would appear that in this case, that's not the situation. ... Unfortunately, an animal that's been abused in that particular fashion, where it's been trained to fight another animal, is going to be very difficult to bring into a more calm, sedate state than it exists in right now."
Rowland said dog fighting is widespread in rural counties throughout south Alabama.
"It's really important that when we're confronted with this that we prosecute these cases as diligently as possible," he said. "If an animal such as this were to get loose in a neighborhood, it's extremely dangerous."
Case Updates| Lee Allen Jackson pled guilty to one count of cruelty to an animal, a misdemeanor, on January 31, 2007. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail, fines, and 12 months of unsupervised probation. Court records do not indicate that the defendant is prohibited from owning animals during his probation. | Source: Docket # CC061683
Update posted on Feb 6, 2007 - 10:43PM |
| Jury trial is set to begin on January 29, 2007 at 9:00 a.m. in Baldwin County Court, located at 312 Courthouse Square, Bay Minette, Alabama 36507. | Source: Case # CC061683
Update posted on Jan 3, 2007 - 1:29PM |
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