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Dogfighting tips can bring cash

In print: Thursday, May 29, 2008

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TALLAHASSEE — Winston, the black pit bull, is gentle and happy in his new home, his adoptive family says.

But when animal officials confiscated him from a fighting ring in July, he was emaciated, covered with scars and had two fractures in his right front leg and heart worms. Authorities said Winston was used as "bait" to train fighting dogs.

The Humane Society of the United States used the pit bull Wednesday during its presentation to announce a $5,000 reward program for reporting illegal animal fighting in Florida.

The reward program will be paid out of donations that have poured in after the arrest of former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick.

Vick is serving 23 months in federal prison after admitting he helped run a dogfighting ring out of his Virginia home and executed dogs that performed poorly.

"It says a lot about our society when people are still getting entertainment out of two animals ripping each other apart," said Laura Bevan, the Humane Society's southeast regional director.

Attorney General Bill McCollum stooped down to pet mild-mannered Winston before joining Bevan to announce the reward program at a news conference outside the Florida Capitol.

Animal fighting reports can be phoned in to the Humane Society at (202) 452-1100 or local Crime Stoppers programs, which allows informants to remain anonymous and still get rewards.