Feds move to hold 67 dogs allegedly used for fighting

Charges are still pending against the dogs’ owner.

The dogs were on chains and several had wounds and scars from fighting, according to federal investigators.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office now wants to prevent the 67 pit bull-type dogs seized in February from being returned to their previous home in Mitchell County. Investigators found evidence of illegal dogfighting during a search of the property.

“The defendant dogs were found separated from one another, mostly on heavy chains tethered to the ground, on the exterior portion of 600 Pinewood Lane,” a court filing states. “The area each dog had to move was a small circle limited by the length of the chain. It appeared, based on the lack of vegetation within the chain circumference, that the chain spots had been used for a long period of time.”

The civil filing also seeks to keep any puppies the dogs may have had from being returned to the property. The animals are being kept at an undisclosed location, the Mitchell County Sheriff’s Office said.

After getting reports of dogfighting, Mitchell County deputies, along with the GBI and federal investigators, removed the animals from the property, the sheriff’s office said in February.

The dogs’ owner was arrested and charged with 67 counts each of dog fighting and cruelty to animals, according to an WALB news report. Charges are still pending.

The federal Animal Welfare Act prohibits conducting a fight between at least two animals for purposes of “sport, wagering or entertainment.”

“It is illegal to sponsor or exhibit an animal in an animal fighting venture,” the latest filing states, citing the law. “It is also illegal to sell, buy, possess, train, transport, deliver, or receive an animal intended for use in an animal fighting venture.”

It’s not only in rural areas of Georgia where dogfighting has been investigated.

In January, a man was sentenced to serve two decades, including five years in prison, after being found guilty of running a dogfighting operation out of his Cherokee County home, officials said. Randall Larry Thaxton, 59, was found guilty Dec. 8 of nine counts of dogfighting and seven counts of cruelty to animals, the Cherokee District Attorney’s Office said.

According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, tens of thousands of people in the U.S. are involved in dogfighting despite laws against it.

MITCHELL COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE In February, 67 dogs were removed from a property in Mitchell County, where investigators believe dogfighting was taking place.