Pit bulls seized:suspected of fighting

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]12 pit bulls suspected in dogfighting euthanized

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May 23, 2006

BY LAUREN FITZPATRICK Daily Southtown
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Twelve dogs were led out of a Steger kennel recently and loaded into Will County Animal Control vans, carried off to be euthanized.

The seven female and five male pit bull terriers had been housed at the kennel since March, when they were nabbed as evidence in a felony dogfighting and drug case against a Monee couple. Though the kennel's owner, Donna Jones, was in charge only of the dogs' feeding and care, she asked if any of the dogs could be evaluated for adoption -- especially the five puppies -- through a local pit bull group called Chicagoland Bully Breed Rescue.

But that could hurt the state's dogfighting case, Jones was told May 12, as animal control officers removed the dogs from her facility and an attorney for Bully Breed scrambled to stay the execution.

Will County Animal Control said Monday they have to put down all dogs involved in, bred for or exposed to dogfighting for the sake of public safety. If dogs are placed in homes as pets, they must not be considered dangerous, the argument goes.

"How can you prove [the defendant] was training all these dogs to fight, and how can you prove these dogs were aggressive enough [if they were adopted]?" animal control officer Mindy Sasser said.

Donald Hudgins of Monee is accused of training the pit bulls as fighters, in addition to several drug possession and dealing charges. His wife, Katherine Hudgins, faces the same felony dogfighting charge.

Armed with a search warrant obtained after a tip fingered the Monee house for drug sales, police confiscated the 12 dogs, plus an 18-inch-long American alligator and an adult rooster in March, according to the warrant's inventory. They also carried off dozens of cannabis plants, multiple containers of marijuana and cocaine and scales for weighing, the inventory shows. Clancy denied the Hudginses are dogfighters or even dog owners; rather, he said, they belonged to an Alsip-based show club called "Chicago's Finest American Pit Bull Terrier Club," and they were boarding the 12 dogs for two people.

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Boarding, vet care cost thousands







The dog's alleged owners relinquished their ownership rights May 8 in a forfeiture petition requested by animal control, who cited the cost of keeping so many dogs for so long and the potential danger posed by the breed, said Chuck Pelkie, a state's attorney's office spokesman.

After about two months in the shelter, the dogs' boarding and veterinary care cost between $5,000 and $10,000. When no one covered the cost, Pelkie said, the dogs became the property of animal control, which then deemed them dangerous because of their suspected fighting background.

"We feel that they should at least have been given a chance," Jones said. Daily Southtown

 

So, these poor dogs have to be killed, to protect their case against this person.
Thats fair! Not.

 

Yes, because adopting out healthy, stable bulldog pups would show that these dogs are not the vicious killers they want to make them out as in this case.

 

I think you hit the nail on the head!!

 

Conflict of interests, ya'll may not be for "dogfighting" however we all are the ones that allow these folks to keep killin these animals under their laws. United we stand divided we fall.

All or nothin,take back your rights!

 

All I can say is poor dogs. The owners should pay the price not the dogs.

 

IMO when the gov comes to get you, you might as well fire away, because they will get you at any cost for the sake of their reputation, with no regard to whether or not you are guilty or inocent. Nowadays, the accusation alone is the same as being guilty.

 

That's terrible, those poor dogs.

 

AMEN, Hallaluya and Praise the Lord!!!!!!!!!!

 

The owners did pay the price, those animals are not suffering. I think you got it backwards.

It's all or nothing, forsaking one for the other type attitude is not gonna save this breed. The only thing it is doing is biding time.

 

How very Stalinistic of the "humane" athorities, protection through exterminaiton.

 

i should have never registered my pet. it's like putting a tracking device on him for the authorities when pits are banned in frisco.

 

They get you sooner or later especially if you have neighbors.....

 

I still don't understand how they can euthanize someone's dogs before their case even comes to court. The argument that they can't afford to feed the dogs they steal just seems lame to me. Even if those people are cleared of all charges related to dog-fighting, the dogs are still dead. Even if you win, you lose.

 

Good Example, look at the case with Irish Jerry.

 

Kind of irritates you they use that excuse when they pull in billions of dollars in donations every year, and barely a fraction of it is actually spent on the animals. If they would stop giving out 6 figure annual salaries, and spending 90 % of their $$ on ads to tell people how great they are and how much they do, and instead actually did it and let their actions do the talking...I would respect them alot more, and these dogs would of been given a fair chance!