If he’s guilty of this, I hope his career is over, and sits in a jail cell for a while:

At the start, authorities seized 66 dogs, including 55 pit bulls, and equipment commonly used in dogfighting. About half the dogs were tethered to car axles with heavy chains that allowed the dogs to get close to each other, but not to have contact — an arrangement typical for fighting dogs, according to the search warrant affidavit.

The indictment said dogfights were held at the Virginia property and dog owners brought animals from six states, including New York and Texas.

In a search warrant executed July 6, the government said the fights usually occurred late at night or in the early morning and would last several hours.

Before fights, participating dogs of the same sex would be weighed and bathed, according to the filings. Opposing dogs would be washed to remove any poison or narcotic placed on the dog’s coat that could affect the other dog’s performance.

Sometimes, dogs weren’t fed to “make it more hungry for the other dog,” it said.

According to the indictment, losing dogs were drowned, hanged, or covered in water, then electrocuted.

Guess we’ll wait for the trial to see the extent of Vick’s involvement. But if he was? The hell with him. And no, I don’t think there’s anything unlibertarian about laws against animal cruelty.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 18th, 2007 at 8:54 am by Radley Balko and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.