By Trip Jennings
SANTA FE, N.M. — The indictment of NFL quarterback Michael Vick this week for allegedly sponsoring a grisly dogfighting ring has placed a spotlight on people who wager money - sometimes big money — on the brutal blood sport.
New Mexico has a law against dogfighting. But although Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White and other officials said Thursday that illegal dogfighting goes on in New Mexico, they don’t know how much money is involved or how often fights are held.
“Everyone agrees it’s a problem,” White said. “But to what extent? That is one of the reasons we formed the task force.”
White was referring to a new statewide Animal Cruelty Task Force, formed last month and led by New Mexico Attorney General Gary King.
One of the task force goals will be to coordinate efforts among law enforcement agencies to improve intelligence on dogfighting, said Heather Greenhood, a task force member and legislative director for Animal Protection of New Mexico, which successfully lobbied for a ban on cockfighting this year.
“We’re going to set up a hot line for people to call in with information,” Greenhood said.
The Attorney General’s Office has no active dogfighting investigations or prosecutions, said King’s spokesman, Phil Sisneros.
That doesn’t surprise Bob Schwartz, a former district attorney in Bernalillo County, who now serves as chief prosecutor for the state Regulation & Licensing Department.
“It’s easier to crack drug rings” than illegal dogfighting rings, Schwartz said. “This is real subterranean stuff.”
Schwartz also knows how difficult it is to make a case. In the 1980s, Schwartz prosecuted a man for violating New Mexico’s dogfighting ban, which prohibits fights “between dogs for the purpose of monetary gain or entertainment.” Violating it is a fourth-degree felony.
Part of Scwhartz’s prosecution involved a veterinarian who concluded, after examining a dog allegedly involved, that the animal had been trained to fight.
“He was a gladiator,” Schwartz said.
Ultimately, Schwartz couldn’t make the case with the jury because it was difficult to prove that the dogfight was a staged match. The defendant said “the dog got out and got into a fight with another dog,” Schwartz said.
Schwartz said the illegal dogfighting operations are “mechanized.”
“They keep them moving,” he said. “They keep location secret until right before the match. They have lookouts.”
But the secrecy hasn’t stopped the flow of tips about such activity.
Animal Protection of New Mexico has “been getting calls for years” on dogfighting, Greenhood said.
The tips involve everything from information about the fights themselves to the use of bait animals - small dogs or cats stolen by people training the dogs.
“They train pit bulls by using a small cat or a small dog,” Greenhood said. “They set them up as a bait to kill, to foster aggression.”
“It’s hard to get people to testify because there are threats and intimidation,” Greenhood said. “There’s a lot of money at stake.”
The federal indictment against Vick and others, filed this week in Virginia, suggests how much money might be involved in some areas of the country.
The indictment, which accuses the NFL quarterback and other individuals of participating in a multistate gambling operation that revolved around secretive dogfights, lists purses worth up to $26,000 for a single fight.
The indictment also describes brutal consequences for dogs that don’t perform well.
The indictment accused several individuals of executing dogs either by shooting or electrocuting them.
White, the Bernalillo County sheriff, said he wouldn’t be surprised by what officials eventually find in New Mexico.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we find something on a much larger scale,” White said.
Copyright 2007 Albuquerque Journal