Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 2, 1994 TAG: 9408020112
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER NOTE: below
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Greg Hunt, whose age and exact address were not available, was indicted Monday by a grand jury in Roanoke Circuit Court.
He is charged with 17 counts of cruelty to animals and conducting dogfights, according to Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Greg Phillips.
Authorities have obtained videotapes of some of the fights, including one in which a pit bull is shown attacking and killing a kitten. Another video shows four terriers mauling a smaller dog to death.
In other fights captured on videotape, two terriers were pitted against each other.
The fights, which were held in several locations in Roanoke over the past few years, were often attended by a crowd. "It was definitely organized," Phillips said.
Hunt is charged with 12 counts of cruelty to animals, misdemeanors which carry up to 12 months in jail, and five counts of conducting dogfights, felonies punishable by up to five years in prison.
Although it is rare for authorities to file criminal charges in connection with dogfights, the events are believed to be held on a regular basis within a small circle of Roanoke dog owners and spectators.
"It's far more prevelant than you would be willing to think," said Waine Tomlinson, president of the League for Animal Protection.
Tomlinson said his group has been told about dogfights held late at night in parks. Spectators bet on the dogs, he said, and kittens "are used as bait" in side attractions.
"It's an abominable and despicable thing," he said.
Although Tomlinson was not aware of the details of Hunt's case, he said the League for Animal Protection will monitor the case when it goes to court.
The last time Roanoke police filed charges in a major dogfighting case was in 1988. Then, two teen-agers were accused of stealing dogs that were trained and sold for dogfights.
More than 30 pit bull terriers and Rottweilers - some of them family pets and others kept at the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals - were stolen for fights in which they were chained and dropped into a pit, authorities said at the time.
by CNB