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Dog owner says pit bulls should not have been seized
Cecil County investigators suspect dog-fighting
Posted: 11:43 PM
By: Christian Schaffer

Investigators in Cecil County say they’ve broken up a pit bull fighting operation.

But the man who owns the home where the dogs were found says it’s all a mistake — and police have seized his pets for nothing.

The investigation began as a drug operation. State Police, Elkton Police and the Cecil County Sheriff’s Department suspected that marijuana plants were growing behind this home in the 300 block of Red Hill Road, just outside Elkton.

They raided the home this past Thursday, and say they found more than 100 marijuana plants, along with 11 pit bulls in the back yard.

‘The pit bulls were observed to have numerous injuries, not in very good condition,’ said 1st Sgt. Michael Holmes of the Cecil County Sheriff’s Department.

Investigators also found performance-enhancing drugs, treadmills, I-Vs and catheters, and a video that contained dogfights on it. Police did not say where they believe that video was shot.

The owner of the home and the dogs did not want to speak on camera, but he disputes many of the sheriff’s department’s claims.

He says the dogs were in good condition — and in pictures that he showed to ABC-2 news, the dogs do not appear to have any obvious injuries.

He says he’s not running an illegal dog-fighting operation.

A tour of the back yard where the dogs were kept revealed several small dog-houses, but no feces or other signs of squalid conditions.

The owner admitted he had treadmills for the dogs — but he says they were used to keep them in shape for dog shows. He says he used to breed and sell the pit bulls, but now he keeps them as pets. He says hasn’t sold a dog in several years. But police say their evidence is compelling.

‘With the numerous performance-enhancing drugs that we found there, the treadmills, it definitely appeared that these dogs were being trained to fight,’ Sgt. Holmes said.

The owner is also upset that police broke down his door and ransacked his home during the raid. He says he was home for several hours before the raid on Thursday; investigators came in after he’d left.

As for the marijuana plants — he says there were some growing in his back yard, but he didn’t plant them. He says he should have cut them down. Police say they found more than 100 plants — he says there’s no way there could have been that many. ‘They counted them when they had them, and it was 106; they all weren’t full-grown some of were still in the smaller growth process,’ Sgt. Holmes said.

The owner has not been charged with anything at this point; the investigation is still going on.

The dogs are being kept by the Cecil County SPCA.

Dog owner says pit bulls should not have been seized