By Mark Bixler
The Atlanta Journal Constitution
GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Sheriff Butch Conway of Gwinnett County is offering $10,000 of his own money for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of people involved in dogfighting in Gwinnett County.
The sheriff said he acted after seeing a TV news report that quoted a woman who said dogfights were happening across Georgia.
“Fighting dogs is horrendous and abhorrent and anyone involved in it should be punished to the fullest extent that the law allows,” the sheriff said in a statement Monday.
“In my opinion, the penalties should be stiffer for those involved in these acts and no one should ever turn their head or look the other way when they know someone who is involved in these acts.
“If this reward is incentive for people to start reporting it, then I will have accomplished what I intended,” Conway said. “It is a small price to pay to bring these people to justice.”
Conway and his wife rescue animals from animal shelters before they are put down. The sheriff also is a spokesman for the newly formed Spay Neuter Action Coalition of Georgia, a grassroots organizations that encourages people to spay and neuter their pets to guard against overpopulation.
The sheriff said that by offering a reward, he is not weighing in on the federal dogfighting charges facing Michael Vick of the Atlanta Falcons.
“People who fight and kill animals cannot be described as anything but depraved, and I will do anything in my power to make sure that this is not something that happens in Gwinnett County,” Conway said.
Copyright 2007 The Atlanta Journal Constitution