Christ Yoder
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Police say the seven dogs seized from a home in Orange this week over suspicion of dog fighting and animal cruelty are linked to an illegal dog fighting syndicate that spans Connecticut and New York .
News 12 is told that the dogs lived in outdoor kennels in unsanitary conditions and were inhumanely tied in their cages.
“When we were there, the detectives – they found material that matched dog fighting,” the Connecticut State Police Sgt said. Christine Jeltema.
This is the second recent raid in Connecticut linked to a massive interstate dogfighting ring in Suffolk County, New York. During the summer, the police announced that they had arrested 10 people and saved 89 dogs.
The number included eight dogs from a property in Meriden where detectives also seized shock collars, weighted harnesses, whips and scales. They also discovered a homemade dog fighting ring.
“They are tortured. They are tortured until they fight,” said Desmond’s Army Animal Law Advocates President Zilla Cannamela. “Often they are very skinny, they are not fed well to keep them alive, to keep them hungry.”
The bust of Meriden led to the arrests of Jose Rivera and Nelson Rivera, of Meriden, and Getulio Vargas Macedo, of Bridgeport. Criminal proceedings are awaited against the owner of the dogs in Orange.
The dogs are now in the care and custody of the Connecticut Department of Agriculture and are housed at Milford Animal Control. They are considered evidence in this case.
State police told News 12 many had scars and injuries indicating dog fighting.
“They are seen by vets, they are evaluated so that we can make sure that they can live the rest of their lives as they should,” Jeltema explains.
The hope is that the dogs can be rehabilitated and then adopted into good homes.
“They can just be grateful and love dogs afterward,†Cannamela explains.
