Earlier this week, Florida resident Willie Bell turned down a plea deal of three years in prison for a felony charge of cruelty to animals. Not smart: Now Bell faces five years in prison, and if he's convicted, he deserves every second of it. According to police, Bell tied a 30-pound dumbbell around a dog's neck, placed the dog in the water 25 yards off shore, and forced him to swim for his life. Blackie, the 2-year-old pit bull mix, was rescued after a witness saw him struggling and called police.

When PETA heard about this case, we immediately contacted the local police department, since dogfighters often train dogs by forcing them to tread water. Fortunately, the investigation turned up no evidence of dogfighting, and Blackie is now back with his guardian, Bell's cousin, who was reportedly horrified to learn about Bell's alleged actions.
 

stephskardal/cc by 2.0

 
Pit bulls are the most abused dogs in dogdom. Because of their "macho" image, pit bulls are the breed of choice for thugs, gangs, drug dealers, and dogfighters. But we can all help stop this cycle of abuse. Speak out against negative media depictions that perpetuate the image of pit bulls as fighting machines. And please, if you see an animal in danger, contact your local police department immediately.

Written by Paula Moore

Those of you who have been following the story of Patrick—an emaciated pit bull who had been stuffed down a trash compactor at a New Jersey apartment complex—will be glad to know that police have located his owner and charged her with felony cruelty to animals. Sadly, Patrick is just one example of the horrific abuse and neglect that pit bulls are routinely subjected to.

PETA recently came to the aid of two pit bulls who had been subjected to appalling neglect. One 4-year-old dog had been chained outside for her entire life—her owner had never even bothered to give her a name. Because she had no social interaction (her owner simply threw handfuls of kibble on the ground), she was terrified of people and would cower in her ramshackle doghouse whenever anyone approached. Mercifully, her owners agreed to surrender her to PETA.
 

 
While out on one of their regular missions to deliver doghouses, food, and straw bedding to neglected dogs, PETA staffers were approached by a man who expressed concern about a neighborhood dog. The staffers discovered that a well-meaning family had recently taken in an emaciated, desperately ill pit bull, but the dog was not responding to treatment and refused to eat. Because the dog was so far gone, they agreed that the time had come to put him out of his misery.
 

 
Neglect can be just as lethal to a dog as any other form of abuse. If you suspect that a dog is being neglected, take action.  You may be his or her only hope.
 

Written by Michelle Sherrow

Last week, PETA's Community Animal Project (CAP) received a call for help from an indigent man whom we had already provided with a doghouse and spay surgery for his own dog. The man had tried, without success, to nurse back to health two sickly dogs whom he had found by the side of the road (they had likely been abandoned). A CAP fieldworker rushed out to check on the animals and found that they were horribly emaciated (with protruding hips and spines), lethargic, dehydrated, and covered with hundreds of ticks. We attempted to give both dogs a good meal, but one dog was too weak and sick to even eat so we loaded both dogs into a cool, air-conditioned vehicle and gave them a comfortable bed.

When these dogs were brought back to PETA headquarters, both were found to be severely anemic and the male could barely hold himself up without assistance. Their horrible health problems were probably the reason why they were abandoned in the first place.

PETA wouldn't have known about these dogs if the man who found them hadn't called, and local authorities might not know about animals in distress in our own neighborhoods unless we inform them. So, for the love of dogs, let's be watchdogs for animals in our community and alert police and animal control officials the minute we know or suspect that an animal is suffering.

Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post

Dogfighters are cowardly scum. Just ask the "Scumdogs of the Universe"—better known as thrash-metal band GWAR, whose lead shrieker Oderus Urungus unleashes his wrath on dogfighting in a new peta2 video.

In the video, a chained GWAR "slave" is pitted against Guy Kozowyk of metal masters The Red Chord in a WWE-esque, no-holds-barred match. Unlike dogfights, in which dogs are forced to tear each other to shreds, no real blood is shed in this match, and the willing participants live to fight against dogfighting another day.

The Supreme Court recently struck down a law banning the distribution of videos depicting illegal conduct such as dogfighting, but that doesn't mean that you have to be an intergalactic humanoid barbarian (unless you're into that) to combat this blood sport. If you find evidence that dogfighting is taking place in your area, please contact your local humane society or police department right away. You might also want to contact neighborhood watch groups in your area to encourage them to keep an eye out for possible dogfighting rings. Whatever you do, please declare "GWAR" on dogfighting!

Written by Amy Skylark Elizabeth

To clarify PETA's position on pit bulls: We're for 'em.

By "for 'em," I mean that we are for pit bull protection, for their happiness, and for treating them like dogs instead of like cheap burglar alarms, punching bags, or gladiators in perverted death matches.

Some pit bull fanciers out there seem to think that PETA is "against" pit bulls because we don't oppose breed-specific measures to address what is obviously a breed-specific crisis. Au contraire. If someone proposed a ban on breeding Labrador retrievers or Chihuahuas or poodles (you get the picture - any dog), we'd be for those too. That's because we don't think any dogs should be brought into the world as long as millions are dying for lack of homes in animal shelters and on the streets every year.

Millions, people. Millions of dogs just like the ones you share your homes with have to be euthanized because too many people fail to spay and neuter their animals and choose to buy from breeders and pet stores instead of saving lives by adopting from animal shelters. Wouldn't we be derelict in our duty if we didn't support laws that would alleviate suffering and reduce those numbers? If those laws saved just one animal from suffering a miserable life or a painful death, wouldn't they be worth it?

Pit bulls are often singled out by legislators because they are involved in so many attacks on humans and other dogs—as well as horrific cruelty cases. Our fieldworkers know firsthand just how frequently and mercilessly pit bulls are abused. These dogs are hands-down the most common victims of heartbreaking abuse and severe neglect that our caseworkers encounter.

I'm going to warn you—the following pictures, which were taken by our caseworkers of pit bulls they have helped, are graphic and disturbing. But I hope you'll steel yourself to look at them and decide for yourself whether or not these suffering dogs would have been better off if they had never been born:

This is Rikus.

PETA fieldworkers found him cowering in his doghouse with a gaping wound on one of his legs, exposing muscle and bone. His face was swollen to the size of a melon because of infected wounds that he had suffered during a dogfight.

Music was nothing more than skin and bones when we found him, without food or water, and with nothing but a rusty pile of junk for shelter. He was shivering in freezing weather, trapped at the end of a heavy chain.

Music's ears were shredded and his body was covered with scabs and scars—an indication that he had been forced to fight with other dogs.

In December of last year, PETA staffers found Zoo—also skin and bones—chained and starving in Suffolk, Virginia.

Our vet determined that Zoo was 20 to 30 pounds underweight. Zoo tested negative for intestinal parasites—meaning that his emaciated body condition was because of starvation. He was also filthy, flea-ridden, and heartworm positive. We charged his callous owners with cruelty to animals. They pleaded not guilty in court, but the judge saw through their lies and convicted them. They were sentenced to 30 days in jail (suspended) and forced to pay fines of $250 each as well as restitution for Zoo's veterinary bill.

On New Year's Day, heartbroken PETA staffers discovered this angel, Hugo, dead inside his PETA-supplied doghouse. A necropsy report confirmed that Hugo had been starved to death—the only contents of his stomach were grass and orange peels. He had scars consistent with dogfighting and had a fractured rib that was the result of trauma. We worked with law enforcement officials to bring charges against the person who was responsible for Hugo's prolonged suffering and death. A judge sentenced the defendant to 120 days in jail and five years of probation during which time he is not allowed to inhabit a residence that has any animals in it.

Blackie was chained to an old carrier with no food or water. He was painfully thin, and his right rear leg had a compound fracture that had been left to rot for weeks.

For more information about PETA's position on pit bulls, check out our new pamphlet on the subject.

Written by Alisa Mullins