Dogs rescued from Daytona Beach fighting ring get a second chance

More than two years ago, Daytona Beach Police and Volusia County Animal Services rescued 42 dogs from a Reva Street home where they were being bred for dogfighting.

The animals showed signs of mistreatment – some were attached to heavy chains, others were kept inside makeshift wooden cages, and many showed wounds in different stages of healing – indicating they were used to fight.

One of the men accused in the case was convicted on May 12 of animal cruelty and dogfighting charges and was sentenced Friday to 18 years in prison.

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Adam Leath, CEO of the Halifax Humane Society, was Volusia County's Animal Services director when authorities seized the dogs in February 2021. He described the scene as "heartbreaking."

"These dogs were housed in incredibly unsanitary conditions," Leath said in an interview. "Forced to fight one another for the financial gain of the individuals involved."

The animals suffered from several medical problems, including infections, intestinal parasites, and external parasites.

As soon as the dogs were rescued, they were brought to the humane society, where they began their recovery.

"Each of the 42 dogs was examined forensically," Leath said, adding that the organization had the help of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). "That took quite a bit of time to comprehensively examine each and every one of them."

Several of the puppies were anemic due to parasite activity in their intestines, which required blood transfusions and "intense medical intervention," Leath said.

Leath said 40 of the 42 dogs rescued were rehabilitated and found new homes that same year. They ranged in age from several months to several years.

Two of the dogs were so severely injured they could not be rehabilitated and were euthanized.

During his own time as a regional director at the ASPCA, Leath participated in several dogfighting rescues.

"These dogs are incredibly resilient," he said. "They want to please people, and that quality has been exploited when they are used in organized dogfighting."

Leath said that at least 50% of the dogs rescued can be rehabilitated and adopted into permanent homes, many with children and other pets. Some even become therapy dogs.

"In this case, it was even better than 50%," he said. "We are very excited to say that we were able to see such positive outcomes for these dogs that have been so severely mistreated and exploited."

While each case varies, rehabilitation usually lasts a few months. All the dogs adopted in this case were adopted by the end of 2021.

While the humane society, a nonprofit that relies on donations, incurred a cost during the rehabilitation, the ASPCA covered a significant portion, Leath said.

When dogs are rescued from dogfighting rings, their recovery is both physical and behavioral.

Leath said many people think that animals abused in a case such as this pose a threat to the general public, "but nothing can be further from the truth."

While the physical part is more straightforward, reconditioning the animals’ behavior is a different process and maybe not what most people would imagine, Leath said.

"They are actually exploited for their aggressive tendencies toward other dogs," he said. "We can temperament-test them, expose them to a variety of scenarios where we can identify what problematic behaviors exist and then start them on a regiment of positive reinforcement."

Dogfighters, he said, "don't want dogs that are aggressive to people, because they have to be routinely handled by a lot of different people."

Leath said the dogs in this case were "incredibly under-socialized," "cowering" and showing fear of new things, which goes against their social nature.

"So keeping them in isolation, they are craving attention," he said. "You’ll see them play with their own food bowls, try to reach as far as they can out (of their crate) to get someone to just touch them."