TYLER, Texas — Smith County Animal Control hired a behavioral specialist from Jacksonville, Florida to evaluate the 38 game-bred pit bulls from the alleged dogfighting ring last month.
"Her words were they don’t know how to be dogs," Smith County Animal Control Supervisor Amber Greene said.
Fifty-five dogs and two cats were rescued from what officials believe was a dogfighting facility in Tyler. Brothers Michael and Kerry Jones were arrested on animal cruelty in connection with the investigation.
"How the dogs interacted with the different people here, and how they interacted with each other, and if it was a male or female, some of them were very shy, not aggressive but very shy," Greene said.
Out of 38 game-bred pit bulls in the shelter, 27 were determined to not aggressive. Greene said those dogs will be sent to out-of-state rescues to be rehabilitated and eventually adopted. She plans to start reaching out those rescues over the next week.
"We can change their mind set of being scared of another dog, it gives them the change to be in a home environment and we want to give them that," Greene said.
As for the 11 other dogs, they were evaluated to be unsafe for home environments. Two had already bitten staff members and shown aggression towards other dogs.
Greene determined they “had a drive to fight” during the evaluation. Those dogs will be euthanized.
This comes after the specialist says she doesn’t recommend they be put into a home environment. There’s no time frame for when this will happen.
On the other hand, six of those dogs were in critical condition and sent to Spence and White Veterinary Clinic, where Dr. Gary Spence said they were used as fighting bait dogs and for breeding. They've made a lot of progress since the beginning on their stay.
"They’re all doing wonderful," Spence said.
Spence says all six dogs are fully vetted after they suffered severe injuries, heart worms, hook worms and more, and they’re ready for adoption through Nicholas Pet Haven.
"They've been thrilled to get out of the situation they were in and be treated like little human beings," Spence said.
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