From lab rats to fighting rings – it’s a dog’s life

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

By Jake Nichols

The arrest and conviction of the NFL’s Michael Vick took dog fighting from seedy barnyard and basement pits to just the place dogfighters hate to see it: in the headlines.
Wyoming and Idaho remain the only states where the illegal practice of dog fighting has not been made a felony. The American Pit Bull Terrier reigns supreme as the breed of choice for “dog men,” as they’re known in professional circles.

The breed is renowned for its courage – referred to as “gameness” by fighters and breeders – and can thank scrupulous breeding for its dominance in the pit and fear-mongering in the media. The concept of “quit” has been culled from the pit bull. These animals are not inherently aggressive, but they never back down.

DOG FIGHTING ALIVE AND WELL ON THE REZ
Jackson Hole, Wyo.-On a November day in 2004, Gunda Gamble received a visit at her Riverton vet clinic. A carload of Native American men pulled up with a pregnant pit bull that needed help birthing her litter. Gamble agreed to help the dog only if the men agreed to surrender a small female pit bull she noticed in the front seat that looked in such poor health that Gamble wanted to euthanize it humanely.

“She had hundreds of dog bites on her, over 300 puncture wounds,” Gamble recalled. “She had a real distended belly, poor hair coat, and her ears were all torn up. She was cowering and growling. They grabbed her and threw her across the pavement of the parking lot. I honestly didn’t think she would survive the night.”

Gamble ended up saving the small female and keeping her for a family pet. “Pooh Bear,” a dog bred and trained to kill for money and prestige, now lives with the Gambles. “She is very affectionate with our kids,” she says. “She is very [accepting] of our other dogs. But without a hierarchy that has no human on the top, you could see how easily these dogs could become fighting dogs. Many dogs, if they are abused or starved or whatever, would tuck tail and cower. That’s just not in these dogs. They are very dog-aggressive.”

Eastern Shoshone tribal member BeDeaux Wesaw operates the Wind River Reservation’s only animal shelter. He started the nonprofit in 2006 when he got tired of seeing so many strays run loose on the Reservation. He knows there is illegal dog fighting going on in Ft. Washakie, Ethete, Arapahoe and in other parts on the rez. He sees the aftermath every day.

“We found a pit bull earlier this year in the tribal dump,” he says. “The owner went ahead and dragged it after it lost a fight until it was almost dead. The trash man heard it whimpering. They couldn’t save it. Dog fighting is rampant here.”

TRAINING THE PIT BULL
“Labs are used for bait dogs,” says Wesaw. “If you are teaching a younger dog to fight, you are going to start with easy dogs first. They put gun powder in their meat and that slowly dissolves the brain and makes them more vicious. They starve the dogs half to death before the fights and beat and torture them until they are trained to know that if they win a fight they are going to get a big reward and that’s a lot of food.”

John Goodwin, an animal fighting expert with the Humane Society of the United States, said, “Most pits have a willingness and desire to fight.” He believes there may be as many as 40,000 professional dog fighters in the United States and up to 100,000 additional amateurs. “Some of these street fighters may be using bait animals. They are likely to steal bait dogs.”

“Nonsense,” says pit bull enthusiast Bill Steward. Steward runs the website Pit Bull Reporter, which offers advice and tips on training pits and sells back issues of dog fighting magazines from the heyday era of the sport. “Do racehorse trainers steal mules and plow horses to train their thoroughbreds with? Many Pits will not hurt any animal that doesn’t want to fight, anyway. You couldn’t make them kill one.”

Diane Jessup, a foremost authority on the pit bull terrier, agrees. “The whole ‘bait dog’ thing is more or less a media event,” she said. “It is far rarer than the press would have us think, and it only adds to ill will toward a victimized breed.”

BUNCHERS ON THE DECLINE
Some blame Class B Dealers, known as “bunchers,” for many pet disappearances. The Humane Society believes an estimated 90,000 dogs and cats are purchased from these middlemen by research facilities each year in the U.S.

“These people drive around the state and look for dogs to sell to USDA labs, and they don’t always use legal means to obtain these animals,” said Kathy Hooper, who owns Big Sky Rottweiler Rescue. Wyoming has only one licensed Class B dealer, as does Idaho. There are three USDA licensed research facilities in Wyoming, and four in Idaho.

USDA spokesperson Jessica Milteer said the number of random source Class B dealers – the type that gather animals for use in experimental research – has fallen from 100 in 1999 to 10 nationwide, as many companies like Proctor & Gamble have dramatically curtailed the use of dogs and cats in their labs.

Milteer also said the Animal Welfare Act – passed in 1966 after a pet Dalmatian was accidentally sold to a lab and killed during an operation – has set strict guidelines on how animals may be obtained and used by USDA-monitored agencies.

Photo by JAKE NICHOLS
Gunda Gamble and her girls play with a former fighting dog named “Pooh Bear.”


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