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Dogfighting Tip Line Goes National

July 20, 2009


	Call 1-877-TIP-HSUS if you suspect dogfighting or cockfighting in your neighborhood. ©The HSUS

by Ariana Huemer

In the wake of the biggest dogfighting bust ever in the U.S., it's evident how important insider information is in cracking animal fighting cases. This month, federal authorities used information provided by tipsters to make their case against dogfighters in 6 states and take custody of more than 450 alleged fighting dogs.

The recent expansion of The HSUS' animal fighting tip line to cover the entire U.S., then, is a timely event. While the tip line started out in Georgia (later expanding to Florida), The HSUS received many tips and paid out rewards to tipsters from other states. The necessity of taking the tip line national, to streamline the process for tipsters, was clear.

Thanks to a grant from the Holland M. Ware Foundation, as of July 14, 2009, The HSUS' Animal Fighting Tip Line, 877-TIP-HSUS, is a nationwide tip line and fields calls from across the country, poising The HSUS' Animal Cruelty and Fighting campaign to stamp out animal fighting nationwide for good.

A Fitting Anniversary

The launch of the nationwide tip line came just one year, nearly to the day, after one of the most satisfying tip-line based busts: that of the notorious dogfighter Al White.

"Calls starting coming in to our Georgia tip line slowly at first," recalls Chris Schindler, The HSUS' manger of animal fighting prosecutions. "Among all the tips we got in the first few months, Al White's name kept coming up again and again."

Al White was already well known to humane investigators, but without enough evidence to make the case against him, a bust wasn't taking shape.

The tip line calls resolved that. Compiling information from a half dozen or so tips, HSUS investigators approached Georgia's Appalacian County District Attorney and secured a search warrant for Al White's property. And on July 17, 2008, state troopers, animal control officers and HSUS investigators raided White's home and rescued 22 fighting dogs. Not long afterwards, White found himself sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Typical Calls

Although the number of calls fluctuates from week to week, generally depending on what's going on in the media (news coverage of Michael Vick's latest status or a large animal fighting bust often spurs an influx of calls), the types of calls are always varied—coming from both rural and urban areas, motivated either by a desire to collect reward money or a genuine concern for animal welfare, or both. They can be generally sorted into three categories:

Citizens concerned about a single neglected and/or injured looking pit bull.
Citizens concerned about suspicious activities at a residence where a large number of chained or kenneled pit bulls are kept.
Citizens with an inside lead on an already notorious dogfighter or cockfighter.

Getting The Goods

After receiving the tips, it's up to HSUS investigators to compile the information and determine the viability of an animal fighting case. Some cases may require a call to local animal control authorities for a simple welfare check, while others—as in the case against Al White—have the ability to blow the lid off an entire criminal animal-fighting network.

To date, over 40 rewards (funded by a grant from the Holland M. Ware Foundation) have been paid out to tipsters whose information led to the successful prosecution of either dogfighting or cockfighting suspects in the South. With the expansion of the tip line's coverage area, that number is sure to climb exponentially, to the benefit of untold numbers of animals across the nation.

Ariana Huemer is cruelty case manager for The Humane Society of the United States.

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