Chicago Home Daycare Raided for Dogfighting Ring

The little white puppy seems to be thanking

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart for saving his little life.

Be warned. This is yet another horrific discovery by Chicago authorities of a dogfighting ring--but this time, it was on the very same premises of an at-home daycare. Good God.

via The Chicago Tribune:

"Dart said 10 children were being watched at the house at the time of the raid. In a garage behind the house, police found "a very aggressive" pit bull, blood on the floor and along the sides of a car and medication, bite sticks and harnesses used in dogfights.

Investigators learned that many fighting dogs were housed nearby in the garage of a home in the 2000 block of South Sixth Avenue. That house was home to an ex-con who charged $60 a month for dogs to be kept there, authorities said.

Martez Anderson, 38, was cited Tuesday for being a felon in possession of an unneutered or unspayed dog, the sheriff's office said.

In the garage at Anderson's home, police found an 18-month-old pit bull and three 4-week-old puppies in a wire cage that was soaked in feces and urine, with no signs of food or water, Dart said. Police said they believe the puppies were already being used in fights, possibly as "bait dogs." "

The little white puppy the Sheriff Dart is holding is the one whose eye was gouged out while he was used as fight bait. 

"Dart said a swing set on which the children played was 10 feet from a garage where "a vicious fighting dog" was kept. The garage had bloodstained floors, Dart said.

"The very equipment used to train these dogs to kill was being kept in the garage right behind the house," Dart said.

As investigators searched Anderson's property, they noticed a dog with a shredded face through an opening in a next-door neighbor's fence, Dart said, leading police to a third site not originally targeted in the raid. There police found two dogs -- one with fresh fighting wounds and another puppy that was emaciated and had scarring.

The owner of that home consented to a search and, police said, they also found a treadmill in a dilapidated garage, which had been altered specifically to train dogs to fight.

All dogs rescued in the raid are being treated at the Animal Welfare League in Chicago Ridge and are expected to recover."

I feel sick. Sick for the children who were probably exposed to this kind of horrific violence; sick for the parents of the children, who undoubtedly never knew this was going on in the home they placed their children for daycare; and sick for the dogs themselves, who are innocent victims of abuse. This needs to stop.

I hate these stories...but I will continue to post them for awareness purposes.