Ed Faron arrested. His Pit Bulls being held until trial. UPDATE: The dogs have been killed.

[PitBullRescue]

I know of the 127+ Pit Bull Dogs that were removed from Ed Faron's property recently by Wilkes County & the Humane Society of the U.S.. The Humane Society will kill these dogs after Ed Faron's trial is over..if he loses. All I know is that it is the "plan" to kill the pit bull dogs in order to illiminate this "top game blood line" with no consideration for the puppies, young dogs or the non aggressive pit bull mommies who have been "puppy milled" until they are skinny with swollen mammary glands from from giving birth to so many litters. Since most of the females had been bred..there are puppies still being born.

I am haunted about the fate of these beautiful animals.
I am told there is no room anywhere in rescue centers for these dogs and I am desperate to find "SOMETHING" to save these precious dogs. I know that we are over run with animals here in our local shelter and all over the country. Can anyone think of a possible solution to this "time sensitive" issue?

I am limited to the amount of communication I can risk about these Pit Bull Dogs...but I HAD to reach out and try SOMETHING. How can I not at least try? This situation is making me sick.

Q. Shouldn’t we just ban pit bulls?

A. Absolutely not. We should ban the people that teach them to fight and kill.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

► Please contact each of the following individuals and respectfully ask them to contact and allow professionals like Best Friends or ASPCA or Bad Rap to arrange for behavior evaluations of the dogs, assistance and placement of dogs that pass a stringent behavior evaluation.

Wilkes County Board of Commissioners
110 North Street
Wilksboro, NC 28697
Phone: [phone]

Wilkes County Attorney Tony Triplett
Vannoy, Colvard, Triplett & Vannoy
922 C Street
P.O. Box 1388
North Wilkesboro, NC 28659
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]

District Attorney Tom Horner
500 Courthouse Drive Suite 2022
Wilkesboro, NC 28697
Phone: [phone]or 667-2994

Wilkes County is getting to go down in history. Ask them if they want to be known as the North Carolina County that murdered 140 dogs that had already been victimized by criminal dog fighting and criminal sales to dog fighters.

[PitBullRescue]

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

► Please contact each of the following individuals and respectfully ask them to contact and allow professionals like Best Friends or ASPCA or Bad Rap to arrange for behavior evaluations of the dogs, assistance and placement of dogs that pass a stringent behavior evaluation.

Wilkes County Board of Commissioners
110 North Street
Wilksboro, NC 28697
Phone: [phone]

Wilkes County Attorney Tony Triplett
Vannoy, Colvard, Triplett & Vannoy
922 C Street
P.O. Box 1388
North Wilkesboro, NC 28659
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]

District Attorney Tom Horner
500 Courthouse Drive Suite 2022
Wilkesboro, NC 28697
Phone: [phone]or 667-2994

[PitBullRescue]

Yes.... Belles..it is done, my friend.

[Bullies2Love]

I agree with you Chris. The public should be sending a certain message out there and that is:

1. Dog fighting - jail time and I mean longer than what Vicks got. His sentence was too light. In addition, I bet these people made tons of money. Get the dam money and pay a big fine for the dogs that should go to the rescuer that will rehabilitate the dogs like Best Friends and Bad Rap.

2. We need to be sending another message as well - Animal Abuse will not be tolerated either and forget this dam slapping people on the wrisit chit. WTHell is that? Your an adult that knows better and therefore you done the crime you are going to do the time. I have had enough of our system not standing up and giving justice to the animals.

3. I am sick and tired of the media giving the Pit Bulls a bad rap. Yes, some can be bad and therefore need to be put down. Just like the murders...don't you think they should have been euthanzied quickly just as the dogs were. Me thinks so. The media should do their dam homework and really find out if the dog was a pit or not. People who were attack also assume a Pit or, the aren't sure what kind of dog is was put blame on other people's dog with out real proof I bet. The assume too. I wish people would investigate better.

4. Banning dogs and taking them from people homes is not solving the dam problem. Our government is too quick to judge with out coming up with a solution.

[erica]

hello do you have any pictures of therse dogs? and what are the ages they range from and if some one wants to adopt one will they cover transportation

[PitBullRescue]

Here are the two puppies that we nursed back to health. I am still heartbroken over this.

[erica]

i would definitly call your local and near by news channels to post on the news

[PitBullRescue]

I will contact the media after the Ed Faron trial is over and I can do it without risking the safety of the people who are taking care of the dogs and without making the Wilkes County and the HSUS people mad so that they move these dogs and I no longer have ANY way to know where they are so that we can save them. Timing is important. It's not time yet.

For now, I am looking for people who will help when the time is right...people from rescue groups or people who can give dogs a place to stay until they find homes for them . I'm looking for professional people who can come and evaluate these dogs to see which ones would not be a danger to put back out into society or at least some sort of sanctuary where they can lives out their lives in peace and quality. When this hits the media, the dogs will need somewhere to go.

[Michelle Dovin]

I understand the concern for the people taking care of the pups, but fearing getting the Humane Society mad is not going to help them.

The only reason the Michael Vick dogs got a second chance was because of the media attention in the case. Yes, it does bring out both sides but you wont get to all the good people who can help sway the HSUS and the courts to allow these pups to go to the right groups without the extra help. If you wait until the case is over it may be took late if the judge decided to put them all down.

Also, you may want to start a petition online as a possible other way to get the word out without giving out info on those taking care of the pups. Just advice - that's all.

[Kim Tharp]

Please contact the following and encourage them respectfully to allow Best Friends to save and place these dogs so that they may live out their natural lives without being victimized. Dogs are living, breathing beings that deserve no less reverence for their lives than man or any other living creature that we “share” our world with.

Wilkes County Board of Commissioners
110 North Street
Wilksboro, NC 28697
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Wilkes County Attorney Tony Triplett
Vannoy, Colvard, Triplett & Vannoy
922 C Street
P.O. Box 1388
North Wilkesboro, NC 28659
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]

District Attorney Tom Horner
500 Courthouse Drive Suite 2022
Wilkesboro, NC 28697
Phone: [phone] or 667-2994
Fax: [phone]

[Kim Tharp]

Hello All, I have sad news to report....

It appears that the courts had already decided that the death was the only solution for these dogs and their puppies. I sat in the court room and there was no one to argue for the release of the dogs to Best Friends. I was sickened and appalled.

Below is the article from the Wilkes County paper.
*****************************************************************
Lethal injection used with pit bulls Monday
by Staff
As a judge ordered in Wilkes Superior Court Monday morning, Wilkes County Animal Control officials on Tuesday euthanized 146 pit bull dogs that were seized in a kennel off Mertie Road Dec. 10 as part of a dog fighting investigation.
Wilkes Animal Control Director Junior Simmons said that in compliance with wishes of the Humane Society of the U.S., the dogs were destroyed through lethal injection instead of with carbon monoxide.
County Attorney Tony Triplett said Tuesday that Judge Ed Wilson had little choice but to order euthanization of the dogs because they had been declared “dangerous” by county officials.
Under the county’s animal control ordinance, dogs deemed dangerous must be euthanized. Triplett said that under state law, dogs used as part of dog fighting are to be considered dangerous.
Simmons said eight of the dogs were kept at the Wilkes Animal Control Shelter and the remainder were housed on private property in Burke County under a contract with people who cared for them there. The locations of the dogs had been kept secret, partly due to concerns about animal rights activists.
The dogs were associated with Wildside Kennels, whose owner, Ed Faron, 61, was convicted last week of 14 felony counts of dog fighting. Two people who worked there were also convicted and sentenced.
Authorities seized 127 of the dogs in a raid on Faron’s property on Dec. 10, 2008. The rest of the dogs were born after the raid.
The raid was the result of a three-year investigation by the Humane Society of the U.S., in cooperation with Wilkes County Animal Control and the Wilkes County Sheriff’s Office. Representatives of the Humane Society told the judge that the dogs should be destroyed, because they had been bred for generations to be aggressive.
Simmons said the Humane Society of the U.S. already funded much of county governments expenses with housing and guarding the dogs in Burke and was expected to provide an additional grant to nearly completely cover the county’s costs. Off-duty Burke deputies provided security.

[Hillary]

Fighting dogs confiscated in raids against organized dogfighting rings should be individually evaluated before their future is determined. In the case of dogs seized from professional dogfighter Ed Faron in North Carolina, The Humane Society of the United States offered to pay for such an evaluation. North Carolina officials, however, decided they were bound by state and county law to act as they did. Defining and advocating sensible policies for the humane treatment of animal victims of dogfighting is an important issue, and we are engaged in dialogue with a number of groups with a keen interest in that topic. We share the sadness in seeing dogs treated this way and losing their lives, and we welcome the dialogue with likeminded organizations and advocates.

Combating the scourge of illegal dogfighting is a top priority of The HSUS, and should be a major concern of all animal-loving Americans. Debates within the humane movement are healthy and valuable – but no one should lose sight of the fact that dogfighters themselves are at the root of suffering that staggers the soul. A single dogfighting breeder like Faron could doom 1,000 dogs or more to bloody, violent deaths each year in this criminal underground.

No organization has done as much – or anywhere near as much – as The Humane Society of the United States to shield dogs by ridding the landscape of these professional fighting racketeers. We have staff dedicated to taking on this industry and a plan to dismantle it. For more information please visit our web site at http://www.humanesociety.org/acf/fighting/dogfight/.

[PitBullRescue]

How many dog fighting operations has HSUS seized the dogs from and the dogs were evaluated and saved? What is the ratio between pit bull dogs seized and pit bull dogs saved? I'm just curious.