Thirteen pit bulls pulled from suspected dogfighting operation

SPCA police officers removed 13 pit bulls from what officials called a suspected dogfighting operation in a home in South Philadelphia early Tuesday.

Officials from the Pennsylvania Society for the Protection of Animals said eight puppies and five adult dogs were taken late Monday from the house on the 2200 block of Mifflin Street.

While the puppies were found in good condition, some of the adult dogs were injured and treated by veterinarians, said George Bengal, the PSPCA's director of law enforcement. Officials said the dogs had scars consistent with dog fighting.

Bengal said officers also found dog-fighting paraphernalia inside the house: treadmills, supplements and spring poles, all of which are used to condition dogs for fights. He said there was no evidence that fights themselves had taken place at the home.

Police were still searching for the dogs' owner Tuesday afternoon, Bengal said, and added that charges in the case were expected.

Neighbors on Mifflin Street said they knew dogs were kept in the row house in the middle of the block, but some expressed disbelief at allegations of a dog-fighting operation, describing the man who owned the dogs as a longtime resident who simply kept pit bulls for protection and was often seen walking his dogs.

Others said they'd seen a dog chained in the backyard and left to cry for hours, and complained of the smell that leached through the walls.

Two neighbors, who declined to give their names out of fear for their safety, said that for a week they had heard sounds of dogs fighting, barking and crying at night and in the afternoon.

They said they had called the SPCA a week ago to report the home. Bengal said the organization had received a report about dogs barking at the house, but said those types of complaints are handled by the city's animal control department.

A subsequent call on Monday night reported a dog fight in progress and drew Philadelphia police and animal cruelty officers to the block.

According to an affadavit requesting a search warrant, a Humane Society officer entered through a front door and was met with a powerful odor of feces and urine.

In the kitchen, according to the affadavit, the officer found a pit bull mix tied to a radiator, bleeding. Another was held in a crate that the officer called unsanitary. A third dog, the officer wrote, had "multiple scars on its head and face that appeared to be consistent with dog fighting."

"It was a mess - unsanitary," Bengal said. "There were dogs almost in every room of the house."

An investigation into the incident is ongoing, the SPCA said.