WTOC, Savannah, Georgia, news, weather and sports | Dog raid nets arrests, pet rescue
Member Center:
MOUNT VERNON, GA (WTOC) - Sheriff Clarence Sanders calls the scene on Eddie Clyde Road one of the worst things he's ever seen in Montgomery County. Dogs were chained to trees, he said, injured and starving.
"It's disgusting to go out and look at animals treated like these were being treated," the sheriff said.
The Georgia Humane Society received a tip about dozens of abused dogs, from puppies to adults, that were kept for dog fighting. The volunteers went with Sheriff Sanders to rescue them. Deputies arrested Kenneth Jordan and later Terrill Adams. Jordan denied any abuse.
"I do care for my dogs. I spend a lot of money to keep them up," Jordan said as deputies loaded him into a patrol car. " I don't fight these dogs. I love these dogs. They're like family."
But Sheriff Sanders said some were in such bad shape they've already been put to sleep.
Despite a pile of empty dog food bags, the sheriff said they didn't find so much as a handful of food. And the closest thing to medicine they found for the cuts and wounds was an old remedy of burnt motor oil.
Sanders says some of the dogs may have been stolen from other owners. At places like nearby McCord's, the news angered dog owners.
"It broke my heart that somebody would do something to a dog like that. Animals don't deserve to be attacking each other provoked by people," said clerk Amanda Snively, as she served up lunch. She said she owns pit bulls and uses them for hunting. She promises her dogs are docile enough to interact with children, even after an intense day of hunting.
Humane Society workers from Atlanta took many of the dogs there for treatment. Others remain in local shelters, eventually in need of new homes.
" I'd go adopt all of them if I could," Amanda added. "Just makes me want to go get them. So not fair. I've had pound puppies before and they're the best dogs in the world."
Jordan and Adams face animal cruelty and dog fighting charges as well as trespassing for keeping the dogs on a neighbor's property without his permission. They remain in the Irwin County Jail, pending a bond hearing.
©2009 WTOC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
