Seven Arrested in Kankakee Dogfighting Ring

By Kevin Robinson in News on Aug 12, 2009 5:20PM

Kankakee officials broke up a dogfighting ring over the weekend, arresting seven and rescuing nine pit bulls. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart says that while he's seen many things at dogfights, but the case of 50-year-old Ronald Patton of Chicago, who took his five year-old daughter along with him is particularly shocking. Officials say the winner of the fight stood to win $20,000, which authorities seized. "This was a high stakes one. We were estimating the purse for the final champion was going to be $20,000 to $30,000," Dart told CBS2.

The dogs are being cared for at an Animal Welfare League facility in Chicago Ridge. "You look in their eyes and they have that bewildered look, like, 'What did I do wrong?' And that's what's so sad," said Linda Estrada, director and president of Animal Welfare League. "It's not the animals who are bad, it's the people." Among the horrors authorities discovered when they raided the site was a blood-stained electrocution shed, presumably for dogs that lost the fight. The League will care for the dogs and try to re-socialize them, but if their aggression levels cant' be brought down, they may have to be put to sleep. "Their life will be lost because of these idiots, and for money," Estrada said.