Raids in 6 states show dogfighting is widespread

ST. LOUIS -- The arrests this week of a Little League coach, a registered nurse and a teacher during the largest coordinated raids on dogfighting in U.S. history confirm the shadowy blood sport is alive and well despite tough laws across the country.

More than 400 dogs, including some about to give birth to puppies, were rescued in the raids by federal, state and local authorities Wednesday and Thursday in six states: Missouri, Illinois, Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa and Mississippi, officials said.

Federal prosecutors in several states announced indictments accusing 26 people of cruelties that included shooting dogs when they didn't fight well, then throwing their carcasses into a river or burning them in a barrel.

The sport, often carried out in back-alley garages or rural barns, has come under renewed scrutiny after NFL star Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison after his 2007 dogfighting conviction. Dogfighting is a felony in all 50 states, and in recent years, the federal government made it a felony to train, possess or fight dogs.

But that hasn't stopped people from participating in the sport. Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, said the public can "definitely expect more" arrests and raids, because "dogfighting remains a distressingly widespread activity."

Cris Bottcher, a 48-year-old registered nurse at a community hospital in Bethany, Mo., was arrested Wednesday in western Missouri and accused of shooting underperforming dogs and putting their carcasses in plastic containers outside a garage, according to a federal indictment.

Six others were also arrested in that raid including Rick Hihath, a 55-year-old physical education teacher at a state school for the severely disabled, who is accused of working and promoting fights at Bottcher's farm, the indictment said.

The Missouri men, who were in custody Thursday, are due in court today, said Don Ledford, a spokesman at the U.S. Attorney's office in Kansas City, Mo. Their court-appointed attorneys did not return calls, and people who answered the phones at their homes declined to comment.

Randall Lockwood, an animal behaviorist working with some of the rescued dogs in a St. Louis shelter, said the arrests illustrate dogfighting's prevalence in America.

"It's a very long battle, and the battle will continue as long as people cause suffering and death for financial gain and amusement," said Lockwood, of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Authorities are guarding the condition of the dogs because of the pending criminal trials. The Humane Society of Missouri said it is housing most of them -- 378 rescued in Missouri and Illinois -- at its emergency shelter in St. Louis. Humane groups in Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Iowa are taking care of another 75 to 100 dogs, the Missouri group said.

"They seem to be very glad to be here," said Janell Matthies with United Animal Nations, a California not-for-profit rescue group assisting in the dogs' medical triage.

"We're seeing a lot of tail wags," she added.