Upon trying to further research PETA last night I came across a 2001 Daily Press article from Newport News, Virginia that exemplifies the environment at which many of these entrenched players have continued to somehow stay relevant. It reminds me of Los Angeles, it reminds me of lots of places that I read about. Much of this type of a system is broken.

Surry County officials this week put 18 Pit Bulls to sleep, more than 5 months after officials seized them from a Surry County man believed to be involved in dogfighting.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which had been closely watching the case, praised county officials for putting the dogs out of their misery.

‘I’m just relieved that they will never be forced to fight again,’ said Daphna Nachminovitch, a caseworker for the group. ‘It’s finally over.’

The case against Ben Butts, who has faced a variety of felony and misdemeanor charges of training dogs for fighting, came to an end last week with the signing of a pact on February 7th. Commonwealth’s Attorney General Poindexter agreed that the county wouldn’t pursue charges against Butts if he wouldn’t train dogs for sport or show for the next 5 years.

Authorities seized 33 dogs from Butts during a September 6th raid on his home. But 10 dogs impounded in Suffolk animal shelter all died, and 4 housed in Isle of Wight County animal shelter were stolen a few days later.

In December, a General District Court judge dismissed charges against Butts because officers learned about the dogs only after conducting a previous drug raid on the property without a search warrant.

With the agreement, Butts took one dog, Bozo, home, claiming in court that it was a house pet that belonged to his daughter.

Animal Control Officer Derrick Moore put the remaining 18 dogs to sleep Wednesday and Thursday.

So we have a dogfighting bust, where 18 dogs are seized and apparently not given any option of rehabilitation, instead being held for 5 months and eventually killed at the behest of an “animal welfare” group that nefariously lobbies for incrementally phasing out every Pit Bull in the United States. The alleged perpetrator of the fighting mess then signs a pact that states that he’ll stay away from dogs for the next 5 years. Why a pact? Because the department illegally raided his house without a warrant and they needed to cut a deal to save their case. Then 14 of the 33 dogs that were seized either die or go missing under, and all while under the care of 2 separate shelters. No further explanation or investigation follows that. Then they let the pact-signer, who is allegedly a dog fighter, take 1 of the dogs home. Then they kill the rest of the dogs and PETA claims they “hated” advocating for the dogs death, yet that’s what they ultimately chose to do in the face of doing anything else. To top everything off, Gerald Poindexter (Commonwealth’s Attorney General) was the same bumbling cronie that was involved throughout the Michael Vick fiasco of 2007. Gerald fucking Poindexter!!