MA:Tufts VETS treating pit bull

Tufts VETS treating pit bull injured in possible dog fighting ring
By Keith Ferguson
Thu Dec 17, 2009, 04:24 PM EST

WALPOLE -

Local veterinarians are caring for a young pit bull they’ve dubbed “Turtle” after state humane officers say she was dumped alongside a Hyde Park road and left to die by dog fighters.

Turtle is being treated and is recovering at the Tufts VETS: Veterinary Emergency Treatment and Specialties in South Walpole for myriad injuries including several old and new bite wounds and broken teeth.

Veterinarians think the dog is between 2 and 3 years old.



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A passerby called 911 around midnight Tuesday after seeing the animal near Turtle Pond Parkway and Smithfield Road in the heavily wooded Stony Brook State Reservation afraid it had been hit by the car.

After a long search, an on-call animal control officer found the dog in the woods shivering and severely injured near a ballpark and turned it over to the Animal Rescue League of Boston who rushed the dog to Tufts VETS.

“She was in pretty bad shape,” said Lt. Alan Borgal of the Animal Rescue League, explaining dog fighters often discard animals that are excessively injured.

Rescuers were initially afraid she wouldn’t live through the night. Borgal thinks the dog was dumped along the street and crawled into the woods.

“She basically curled up to die,” he said.

Turtle is on intravenous fluids, injectable medication and strong antibiotics, said veterinarian medical doctor Christa Regan, but she is responding well to treatment.

“I think, long term, she’s going to be OK,” she said.

The dog has numerous open and infected bite wounds across its body but its back right leg and hindquarters appear to be most the badly injured, said veterinarians, who plan to X-ray Turtle’s hind leg. Regan said they are also injecting Turtle with medicine to prevent sepsis caused by the infected gashes.

Turtle was riddled with fleas and is also being treated for broken teeth, intestinal parasites and nutritional deficiencies, said Regan.

Rescuers and veterinarians also found old bite marks on the dog that were haphazardly stitched up.

Borgal said owners of fighting dogs perform their own treatments on their dogs since professional veterinarians would recognize dog fighting injuries and turn the owner in.

The dog’s ears were also cropped, a procedure that can only legally be done by certified veterinarians.

“That’s a hack job,” said Borgal, pointing to the dog’s scared over ears.

Tuesday afternoon, Turtle was limping and very timid –hiding her face in the crook of veterinarian April Paul’s elbow – but the dog’s demeanor was calm.

Paul said many traumatized dogs are like that.

“They love humans,” she said, clutching the dog. “That’s what makes this so sad.”

Borgal is looking into whether Turtle may have been used as a “bait dog” – a dog exploited to train other fighting pit bulls – since it is female and sustained such severe injuries. That may not be the case, however, since Turtle’s teeth, said Regan, although damaged, were not filed down – a characteristic of most bait dogs.

“Our main concern is this is a really cruel and barbaric act,” Borgal said. “Just to dump this dog in the woods is callous.”

Borgal said he’s not sure if the dog fighting ring is active around Hyde Park or if the dog was simply dropped there, but he is following up on some initial leads.

If found, he said, the culprit or culprits could face a variety of animal cruelty charges, which is a felony offense in Massachusetts.

“I think (dog fighting) is more common than people would like to think around Boston,” said Regan.

Borgal said street dog fighting around the city was widespread between 1995 and 2003 before the Animal Rescue League cracked down on gang members associated with the practice.

Dog fighting became even harder to weed out recently when it went even more underground following NFL quarterback Michael Vick’s 2007 conviction on animal cruelty charges, said Borgal. Vick served 23 months in federal prison.

Turtle will be kept in various Animal Rescue League facilities over the next six months as she goes through health and temperament tests and is essentially kept as evidence, animal experts said. After the ordeal, the dog will be given to a loving family.

“She has a long road ahead,” said Borgal.

The Animal Rescue League is offering a $3,000 reward for tips leading to an arrest in the case. Anyone with information is urged to call the organization’s law enforcement branch at 617-425-9170 ext. 100.

Visit Homepage - Walpole, MA - Wicked Local Walpole for photos and video of the night Turtle was found.

Tufts VETS treating pit bull injured in possible dog fighting ring - Walpole, MA - Wicked Local Walpole