Police Investigate Suspected Dog Fighting Ring In South Philadelphia
By Tim Jimenez and Syma Chowdhry
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Authorities are investigating a suspected dog fighting ring in South Philadelphia.
It's was around 11 p.m. Monday when police and the Pennsylvania SPCA received a tip call from a neighbor about "suspicious activity" and a "possible dog fighting operation" at a home along the 2200 block of Mifflin Street.
An unidentified neighbor says, "Every time you walk by you hear a bunch of dogs fighting."
Officers arrived to find more than a dozen pit bulls, including eight puppies and five adult dogs, inside the home in what George Bengal of the SPCA describes as deplorable conditions.
"Some were chained to radiators on short, heavy chains," he says. "These dogs couldn't get away, so they were constantly whacking their tails into the walls, into the radiators, and that was causing a lot of the blood splatter that we saw."
Bengal says some of those dogs were scarred, and one was missing an eye.
Police also found dog fighting paraphernalia that included rings, mats and makeshift treadmills built to train the dogs.
"When see a professional boxer or mix martial artist, they get in the ring, they get the best supplement they get the best food. They work out, they are running and training, that's what these dogs go through."
The neighbors who called police did not want to talk on camera, but say they've never seen anyone come in and out of the house, and they had seen a dog tied outside for days without food or clean water.
A neighbor says a dog was "in the cold and just crying and just crying and barking."
The woman says she has complained to the SPCA before, but nothing had been done until Tuesday morning.
"About time. Like I said, I've been out here for three years and I always heard him bark."
But George Bengal of the PSPCA says, "We look back at our records and we have no calls made about that location. That address hasn't been on or radar screen."
Officials say dog fighting operations are very common in Philadelphia, but they are getting harder to find.
"Very similar to a drug operations it's very under ground," says Bengal. "Fighting is on the increase here in the city. It's a horrendous blood sport there's a lot of money in it."
Some say it's dangerous to have dogs bred to fight in this neighborhoods.
Tekesha Johns says, "Kids walking around here for school. It could be any kind of accident."
Kelly Ray adds, "Animals are just like humans. They eat, they live, sleep, they breathe, just like human beings."
The dogs are being evaluated and treated here at the Pennsylvania SPCA. Officials are optimistic that the dogs will likely be adoptable, especially the puppies.
The SPCA says they have identified a suspect but have not released his name.
He could be facing multiple felony charges.
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