Dog fight KO’d

Dogfight arrests; pit bulls to die
Friday, October 26, 2007
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
A brutal dogfight between bloody pit bulls yesterday in an uninhabited area of Jersey City led to the arrest of three men on animal cruelty charges and other offenses, officials said.

Ahmed Elgawly, 22, of Garrison Avenue; Lawrence Nunez, 20, of Pavonia Avenue; and Eric B. Rodriguez, 19, of Glenwood Avenue, were arrested at 2 a.m. at Dey Street and Charlotte Avenue, reports said. They were charged with animal cruelty, promoting gambling and conspiracy, reports said.

The dogs will be euthanized, said Brian Bradshaw, assistant manager at the Liberty Humane Society in Jersey City, where the pit bulls are being treated.

“It’s unfortunate people still use animals for financial or status gain and that the animals are the ones that pay the ultimate price,” Bradshaw said.

Cops on patrol in the area near St. Pauls Avenue in the shadow of the Pulaski Skyway saw a man on a bicycle who said he’d been watching men fighting their dogs, reports said.

The cops got closer and saw Nunez and Rodriguez watching their pit bulls fight and the dogs were “covered in blood on the ears, paws, mouth and throughout the body,” reports said. When the officers ordered them to pull their dogs apart, Rodriguez began hitting his dog on the mouth and face with a wrench, reports said.

“Police are still investigating the extent of this activity and trying to determine if there are others involved,” said Jersey City spokesman Stan Eason.

Nunez’s black and white dog had a piece of flesh in its mouth that came from Rodriguez’s brown and white dog, reports said. Rodriguez held his dog back using a piece of cable wire around its neck and Nunez used a thick chain on his, reports said.

“Both dogs had fresh visible bite marks throughout the body and face, both (were) actively bleeding from the wounds sustained from the fight,” reports said.

Elgawly was in a parked car nearby and when officers asked him if he’d seen the dogfight, he responded “We only came to have the dogs fight for a little bit,” reports said.

“This is very unnerving and disturbing, and I’m ordering our police to do a thorough investigation to weed out any participants or sources of this brutal and inhumane activity,” Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy said.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1193378260115230.xml&coll=3

One Response to “Dog fight KO’d”

1. Antonio Says:
   November 6th, 2007 at 9:14 pm

   Although this story is as tragic as the other 1 million something odd number or negatively publicized story of dog fighting or pit bull attacks in the media, I’m a APBT owner and it’s really becoming boring to read this stuff all the time, there are over a hundred other breeds recognized by the AKC I say it’s time those other breeds get some spotlight coverage in the media.