Man from Catawaba,NC may have ties to Vick

This was posted on another forum...it hit me a little close to home, I live about 4 miles from this guy who was shot. I was told by some friends of his that he was into the drugs and that is why he was shot. I never got to meet him, but it wouldn't have took to long before I did. I heard he had some really nice dogs.



dailypress.com
Slain N.C. man may have had ties to Vick's dogfighting ring
BY MARCIE YOUNG

Authorities say a Catawba County, N.C., man found dead at his home earlier this year may have had connections to the dogfighting ring run by professional football player Michael Vick.

Roy Thomas Melton, a 38-year-old pit-bull breeder, was shot to death. His body was found April 16 at his home by a friend, and when authorities arrived at the trailer, they found 30 pit bulls, many of which were puppies. The dogs were later euthanized.

Capt. Roy Brown of the Catawba County Sheriff's Office said that for the past five months investigators have been reviewing paperwork from Melton's home.

Some of the names found in Melton's documents are the same as names mentioned in an indictment against Vick, Brown said. Brown said he is not sure if the names mentioned are names of dogs or nicknames for people.

 

Probably, just dogs in the ped. If he was down with Vick, he would be under indictment. Vick is snitching on any and everyone. (DMX?) Its official, he's signed on as an informant.

 

wow, that is crazy....

Why were all the pups put down? That is a bit insane.

 

This guy is dead, no way they could charge him, unless they wanted to dig him up. They noticed in his paper work he kept in his house, he had names of people that were same as the ones in Vicks indictment. This guy was into the "professional" fighting as they put it.

 

The so called AC we have here said they were "bred for fighting" and there's no way to change them. Kinda stupid huh? I would have took a couple of them my self and found them good homes.

 

They were APBT's.

 

Yeah, what A$$holes...If they were just pups, how do they know? The AC pisses me off. They just didn't want to deal with getting them homes is probably the truth of the matter.

 

I know that, but I don't think that county has a no adopting out Pit Bull ordiance, and if it does, I had no clue about it.

 

No they don't have a policy on them...we adopted one from them before. It just b/c they were pit bulls and where they come from. The sad thing was, non of his family wanted any of the dogs what so ever. If I knew him, I would have taken some.

 

Sad to say, but there are several reasons AC are loath to adopt out dogs owned by suspected or real fighters.

One is that if it becomes known that a shelter is adopting out "fighters", every backyard dog fighter and wannabe tough guy will itch to get their mitts on such dogs. This does not do the breed any good.

The other reason is liability. If a shelter adopts out a known "fighter" and that dog (for whatever reason) has an incident, the result is a plaintiffs lawyer's dream come true.

You know and I know a bit about the true nature of the APBT. But good luck getting a jury to buy it. As soon as they hear the words "known pit fighter", they're gone.

Of course, if the nice doggie mommy did not know that Biscuit was fought because the shelter withheld that information from Mommy, then Biscuit got a bit wild and nipped Dakota the bratty neighbor kid, that makes it even worse for the shelter.

So its something of a Catch-22 from the point of view of the dog.

 

Thats what disclaimers are for. They aren't adopting them out because they want all of them euthED'. Same deal if any dog they adopted out , nipped "Dakota". And what dogfighter is going to get a dog out the shelter? Unless they need one of those "BAIT", dogs they read about in some anti - APBT article. Now with holding that info, would be thier a$$. A disclaimer saves it.

 

Unwritten rule. Think of it as "DOGism". The old " Hey bohhYyy!, Wat ya' doin' 'round 'chair. (HERE)"

 

Killing puppies? That's sad. They could have been kept, oh, I forgot too. They where APBT's.

 

Catawba County is pretty much owned (the AC) by the HSUS...

 

If you think a disclaimer is ironclad protection from lawsuit, you have a lot to learn. For starters, damage caused as a result of the ownership of a dangerous animal is strict liability under general principles of common law. Now there are issues as to cause and dangerousness here, but a disclaimer will not deflect liability on a strict liability claim.

Second, a disclaimer is only good between the parties to the disclaimer, in this case, the shelter and the adopter. A discclaimer cannot protect against third party lawsuits. Adopted dog bites the neighbor kid, the disclaimer does not apply.

An adoption contract can include a clause whereby the adopter agrees to indemnify the shelter from a lawsuit, but the shelter may still be primarily liable, and the average backyard dog fighter doesn't have insurance or enough assets to make a third party claim worth the shelter's while.

No legal advice is intended. If you want to sue someone or be sued, see your lawyer.