Jones County, Mississippi, police busted dogfighter Dontrelle Keyes of Richton Friday, May 26, 2023. 

"Capt. Vince Williams of the Jones County Sheriff’s Department arrested Keyes on Friday night after he and Sgt. Jake Driskell responded to a tip that dogs were being fought off North Eastabuchie Road," the local paper reported.

Sunday afternoon, Williams told Keyes' judge that he could hear dogs fighting and people yelling. 

But instead of calling for backup, Williams and Driskell let everyone get away. They only caught Keyes because he tried to take a dog with him as he fled, and there were three fences to climb.

Although Keyes flat out told the judge he's guilty, has a Facebook page called Legacy Bully Kennel and tried to flee with a dog, he's only being charged as a spectator because "that’s all that could be proved about his involvement, so far." 

As a spectator, he'll serve a year -- max -- if he goes to prison at all.

Law Enforcement Problems

The ASPCA claims that it "[provides] training and on-the-ground assistance to law enforcement agencies throughout North America in their efforts against dogfighting," but if you research dogfighting busts from the past 15 years, you'll see dogfighters are always discovered in one of two ways: By accident during a drug [or murder] investigation OR in response to a tip from the public. Rarely do police bust more than one or two people. Harrison County, Texas, police let 100 people get away as they arrested Jesus Stephens in November 2021.

In a 2006 article titled "Secrecy Shrouds Texas' Illegal Dogfight Culture," Best Friends attorney Ledy VanKavage, then with the ASPCA, told reporters that dogfighting was increasing, but "[t]he prevalent problem is lack of law enforcement training on how to handle dog cases."

As you can see from their tax returns, the ASPCA and Best Friends have all the money in the world to correct that problem as Cape Hope SPCA in South Africa has been trying to do by going into communities to teach children empathy and build rapport so that more people will report dogfighters. Instead, the ASPCA and Best Friends continue to pressure politicians to place dogfighters' dogs in homes faster and repeal pitbull bans, enabling more people to fight dogs -- and, thus, kill cats, kittens, rabbits, guinea pigs and farm animals. Contrary to its "save them all" slogan, Best Friends couldn't care less that animals being "rehomed" via Craigslist are being tortured and killed by the thousands, that dogfighters and backyard breeders on YouTube are cranking out litter after litter after litter (and encouraging others to do likewise) or that every shelter in this country is full. May 26, Nevada's Animal Foundation tweeted that it had taken in 425 animals in four days. Shelter managers have been pleading for help for years, but there's no relief in sight.

Why?

Corruption

Dogfighting has been "a multibillion-dollar industry" since 2007. Even police officers have been investigated -- and busted -- for fighting dogs:

• In 1974, The New York Times reported that three Chicago police officers were being investigated and cops in other cities, specifically Dallas, knew dogfighting was going on but weren't doing anything about it;
• In 1994, Texas Sheriff Norman Hooten was busted along with 23 other people;
• In 2012, Sparta, Georgia, police officer Travis Edwards was arrested for dogfighting;
• Corrections officers like Sheryl Smith of Macon, Georgia, Shannon Richardson of Buffalo, New York, and William Shields of Montgomery, Alabama, have also been busted for dogfighting.

With rescues like Bark Nation, which has a mere 17,000 Facebook followers, making over $20,000 in one day after a dogfighting bust, there is zero incentive for the ASPCA, Best Friends and the Humane Society of the United States, which have millions of followers, to end this. 

“[L]egislation doesn’t raise money,” Bob Baker, who worked with the ASPCA's animal cruelty unit, told The New York Times after he quit. “But you could show one picture of a mistreated dog and the funds would pour in. .... I don’t want to come off as a bitter employee,” he said. “But it got to the point where animal welfare was not the priority, fund-raising was. It felt as though the animals were being used for fund-raising, rather than using funds raised to help the animals.”

How YOU Can Help Animals

First, stop donating to organizations that have succumbed to greed. If you search Google News for charged with animal cruelty, charged with animal cruelty cat killed or arrested for animal cruelty video, you'll see animal cruelty is out of control, yet ASPCA CEO Matthew Bershadker is making nearly $1 million per year and Best Friends CEO Julie Castle gave herself a $129,000 raise during COVID while millions of people were laid off because businesses were closed. 

Enough is enough. Donate to your local spay/neuter clinic, start a spay/neuter drive (and ask your boss or local business owners to donate a percentage of profits) and donate food, cat litter and money to your local pet pantry. (If you don't have one in your community, email your mayor and city council members and ask them to start one.) You could also search GoFundMe for people who need help paying vet bills to prevent their pet from being euthanized.

With that being said, please read this. Thousands of well-meaning people are getting dogs and cats killed in horrific ways because they don't understand what No-Kill really means. 

Lastly, help show people what dogfighters really look like and how to bust them:

Own a drone, small airplane or helicopter? Look for:

Crop circles like this:

https://twitter.com/pets_in_danger/status/1451642695416520706

Dogs separated from each other like this:

https://twitter.com/pets_in_danger/status/1479150407188467717/photo/1

Dogs being hidden:

https://twitter.com/pets_in_danger/status/1590721685853904897

Dogs in makeshift wooden houses or barrels like this:

https://twitter.com/pets_in_danger/status/1543620337602109440

Catmills that look like this:

https://twitter.com/pets_in_danger/status/1451644207211372546

Send video/photos to https://tips.fbi.gov/

If you're hunting (or golfing) and you see dogs hidden among trees, that's a pretty tell-tale sign that you're encountered a dogfighter or someone breeding pitbulls for them: https://twitter.com/pets_in_danger/status/1590721685853904897

Remember: Dogfighters transport pitbulls in trailers, vans and other vehicles, and they fight dogs in trailers, barns, vacant houses, closed businesses, basements, garages, sheds, rooms of their house and in the woods. If you see/hear something, say something.