Inside a dogfight: Informant gives first-hand account of life in SC pits

The smell of a dogfight is indescribable.

"It's a nasty, disgusting thing ... I guess you could just say blood. Not death, but a bloody smell."

This is according to an informant for law enforcement agencies worldwide and for the Humane Society of the United States. The organization arranged for him to speak to The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette and vouches for his experiences.

The man, who agreed to be interviewed on condition of anonymity because revealing his identity would interfere with current and future investigations, was a spectator, breeder and dogfighter at organized fights for years before, he says, his conscience caught up with him.

That's when he decided to attend events to help bust those involved in the sometimes lucrative world of fighting dogs.

He is part of an international network that's helping law enforcement crack down on dogfighting and the people who participate. He said he's attended fights in South Carolina, including in the Lowcountry, and has helped investigators build cases against major players in the dogfighting community.

And he knows a thing or two about what motivates those who take part in this blood sport.

For starters, dogfighting is not about the fighting. Nor is it about pit bulls. It's not even really about dogs at all.

"At the time my brain was so warped," he said of his pre-informant days. "I loved the dogs, but ultimately it comes down to the money. No matter what, you're doing that for the money. You don't just put two dogs in a ring and there's no money or something tangible as a reward."

'UPPER ECHELON PEOPLE'

When he was 19 years old, he attended his first fight in Miami. He was there to conduct business -- that is, negotiate a lower price for a kilo of cocaine he was trying to buy from a supplier who worked out of Florida and Texas. The supplier brought him to a fight.

"These are upper echelon people," he said. "I didn't know things like this happen. It's hundreds of thousands of dollars (at stake)."

Something else surprised him, too.

"There are veterinarians at the dogfights taking care of the dogs afterward."

While the idea of seeing two dogs in battle scared him a little, he wasn't immediately put off by it.

"It was more interesting and intriguing to me," he said.

He eventually became so wrapped up in it that he began breeding and fighting his own pit bulls.

He liked the discipline of the bloodsport.

He liked the competitiveness of it.

But mostly, he liked the money. He was raised in a well-to-do family, he said, and had a mind for business.

"My motivation is currency ... I kept attending, and it became a part of me," he said. "If I'm involved in something, I want to know everything about it."

He immersed himself in the technical aspect of dog training. In college he even studied physiology and nutrition because it meant he could apply that knowledge to his kennels.

"This is going to sound ironic and what most of these guys will tell you ... they were passionate about their dog. They love their dog. But how can you love your dog (and do this)?," he said.

The Michael Vick case in 2007 led to a crackdown on dogfighting nationwide; now dogfights are no longer large-scale events, he said. Vick, a quarterback with the Atlanta Falcons at the time, served 21 months in prison for his involvement in an interstate dogfighting ring, which included fights in South Carolina. The case brought wider attention to the cruelty of dogfighting, but it didn't stop the fights.

The fights are still prevalent.

"I've been invited to six of them this morning -- in New Jersey, Florida, South Carolina, Dominican Republic," he said.

In South Carolina, the informant has attended fights most recently in Conway and Myrtle Beach.

"I know for a fact it's not just street level (fighting in South Carolina)," he said, referring to the impromptu dogfights that happen in rural and urban neighborhoods and are among the hardest to catch because they lack formal structure and planning.

He says he's also attended fights in a variety of venues -- at mansions, in hotel rooms and storage units -- and has met his share of high-profile people along the way.

SEARCH FOR REDEMPTION

The fights, he said, are typically subdued affairs.

The dogs aren't barking. They're engaged; their teeth are sunk into each other's bodies until one finally lets go.

"It is eerily, eerily silent," he said. "You might want to put that in capital letters. The only thing you might hear, sometimes the dogs will squeal in frustration ... a screech."

He stressed that in all the fights he's seen, he's only witnessed a couple of dogs die. The dogs, he said, are investments and if a fight isn't going well, handlers will sometimes pull out before their dog gets badly hurt. They want their dogs to live so they can fight another day. It's called "losing with gameness."

Street fights are a different story, though. If you want to know about gory dogfights, he said, talk to a street fighter.

"Those guys don't have rules."

In Beaufort County, there are no statistics on the types of dogfighting common to this area.

Local rescue groups and Beaufort County Animal Services say they regularly receive calls on suspected rings and see animals every day that bear the marks of fighting. But the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office has no record of any charges of dogfighting in the county.

So it's hard to fully know the scope of the problem. They just know it's here.

"There's not anything that makes (Beaufort County) any different from any other place in the country," said Kimberly Kelly, director of the South Carolina office for the Human Society of the United States.

Now that he's an informant, the man said watching any kind of fight is difficult for him.

"To sit there and see two animals go through that ...," he said, growing quiet for a moment. "It's not the same."

This is his job now, though. This is how he gets paid.

It's also part of his personal search for redemption. He brought drugs into this country, he said, and he can't take that back. Nor can he undo the wounds of the dogs he fought.

Ultimately, he said, he just wants to do the right thing by the animals.

"I'll save as many dogs as I can. I'll educate as many people as I can. I'll expose as many people as I can."

This story was originally published July 9, 2014 at 2:52 PM with the headline "Inside a dogfight: Informant gives first-hand account of life in SC pits."