Activists, prosecutors, lawmakers target hog-dog rodeos

NASHVILLE — For several years, animal rights activists and prosecutors have been using animal cruelty laws to break up cockfighting and dogfighting rings around the country.

But the bloody backwoods sport of “hog-dog rodeos,” which pits aggressive dogs against wild pigs, continues unchecked because many states do not have laws that specifically outlaw the fights.

Ann Chynoweth, director of the animal cruelty and fighting campaign of the Humane Society of the United States, said that’s changing as lawmakers, prosecutors and activists start to target hog-dog fights, which are most common in the South.

“Our position is that it is illegal everywhere under animal cruelty laws,” Chynoweth said.

Louisiana passed a law last year to prohibit hog dog rodeos, joining Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas. But a similar bill failed in Mississippi, and hog-dog fighting bills failed to leave committees in the South Carolina and Tennessee legislatures this year.

The contests stem from the legal pastime of hog hunting, in which hunters use dogs to find, chase, corner and sometimes take down the hog. In hog-dog rodeos, wild hogs are released into a pen with a dog trained to attack.

Participants argue the dogs enjoy the sport of the events and that it trains the dogs for hunting in the wild.

But critics note that the hogs are seriously injured with broken legs, torn ears, broken jaws and severe flesh wounds that go untreated. They complain the matches are promoted as affordable family entertainment, teaching children that animal cruelty is acceptable.

A South Carolina lawyer whose clients are accused in a hog-dog fighting case calls the events part of legitimate training of hunting dogs.

The trial of Arthur Parker Sr. and Mary Evans Luther of Fort Lawn, S.C., is scheduled to begin Oct. 10 and stems from a raid last year in which authorities seized 15 hogs and 95 dogs reportedly used in hog dog fights.

Mark Plowden, spokesman for South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMasters, called hog-dog fights “terrible animal cruelty.”

The raid last December occurred at a lumber yard, but investigators said Parker and Luther staged fights at their home and other locations where there were crowds of spectators that included children, Plowden said.

Parker and Luther are each charged with one count of animal cruelty, possession of a dangerous animal, conspiracy and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. Arthur Parker Jr. is facing the same charges but is undergoing a mental evaluation, Plowden said.

“There may be others who wind up in court,” Plowden said.

Mike Hemlepp, who is defending Parker and Luther, said what his clients are accused of doing is a misreading of the state’s animal fighting law.

“What my clients have done are hunter trials,” Hemlepp said. “The dogs pin the hogs for 3 seconds and then are separated. The dogs don’t get hurt and the hogs are not hurt.”

Hemlepp said prosecutors’ interpretation of the animal fighting law “doesn’t make sense.”

“Hog hunting is legal. The state says it’s illegal for a dog to pin a hog for 3 seconds in a pen,” he said. “But in their reading of the law, it is legal on a hunt for the dog to catch a hog and hold it while you come along and stab it to death.”

The International Catchdog Association, of which Parker is vice president, is a major sponsor of hog-dog fighting, Chynoweth said.

The association awards titles to dogs that successfully catch wild hogs. One title goes to a dog that catches a penned hog weighing at least 125 pounds, according to requirements posted on the association’s Web site.

Among the names of dogs holding titles are Contenders Boston Strangler, Storm Trooper, and Contenders Grip.

The Associated Press attempted to contact 18 ICA titleholders this week by telephone and e-mail. Just one of the titleholders responded, denying any knowledge of hog-dog rodeos. However, according to the ICA listing, the title held by that owner’s dog was the type that requires a penned hog be caught by the dog.

“These so-called organizations are an attempt to put a more acceptable face on what is a horrendous blood sport,” Plowden said.

States with documented hog-dog rodeos include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas, Chynoweth said.

In April the Tennessee Senate passed a bill 29-3 adding hogs to the list of animals that it is illegal to fight for sport. The measure died in the closing days of the session for lack of a motion in the House Finance Ways and Means Committee.

“They couldn’t fit it into the budget,” House sponsor Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, said.

Sen. Curtis Person, R-Memphis said he hopes the House will pass the bill when the General Assembly reconvenes.

“It’s a cruel, brutal sport and there should be penalties if it happens in Tennessee,” he said. “There’s no reason to think it wouldn’t pass.”

Cecil Harden, president of the Cherokee Hounds Association in East Tennessee, agrees with Person.

“We hunt hogs with dogs that track the hogs and bay, they don’t catch,” he said. “Putting them in a pen and letting the dog catch them, that’s cruelty to animals. I’m not for that.”

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On the Net:

International Catchdog Association http://www.dixiewardogs.com/ICA/

Humane Society of the United States http://www.hsus.org