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Enforcing Change
A few states and cities have formed their own task forces. The one created by the Ohio Department of Agriculture helps enforce the legislation requiring owners of "vicious dogs" to keep their animals confined and to carry $100,000 in liability insurance. In Massachusetts it is now against the law to even own a fighting animal.The model of all task forces is Boston's Operation Dog Tag. Created in 1996, Dog Tag dispatches teams of city cops, animal control officers and armed special agents of the SPCA to neighborhoods where dogfighting is suspected. Scott Giacoppo, who served on the task force, says the success has surprised everyone. "Kids used to go to Ronan Park in Boston to fight dogs. Now it's cleaned up," he says. "Or take Geneva Avenue and Bowdoin Street in Dorchester. A few years ago fighting dogs were attacking people there all the time. Now families can walk by this intersection and feel safe." But no one, including Giacoppo, believes the larger war against dogfighting is close to being won. It's too easy for the players to operate underground, and their ranks are alarmingly widespread.
When deputies in Bastrop County, Texas, answered a trespassing complaint a few years ago, they stumbled across 50 or so fanciers drinking beer, eating barbecue and cheering on a fight. Though people ran for the woods, about 20 were arrested. Most paid a $500 fine -- standard punishment for spectators at the time -- but several refused. One of them, Norman Hooten, protested that he was only at the scene to eat barbecue. In a column published later in American Gamedog Times, Hooten railed that he would sooner let "Big Brother" stand him against a wall and shoot him than turn into "a whore, traitor or rat." His behavior led the U.S. Attorney to consider misdemeanor charges, but Hooten died before the case could be adjudicated.
A close examination of his affairs showed that Hooten was a major figure in the dogfighting industry, once even named its Man of the Year. Certificates discovered by investigators indicated that he had shipped dogs as far away as Korea. His business stationery advertised "Dogs of Quality and Character for 25 Years."
That stationery revealed one more interesting fact about Hooten. He was the sheriff of Kinney County, Texas.
If you see evidence of dogfighting, contact your local police or an animal control officer.
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