Roy Jones: I let my dogs fight
What can you say about this? The guy is a bonehead for openly discussing his activities, if he actually did these things. I don't know why someone would want to watch dogs fight. It's sickening. He says he wouldn't want to see the dogs fight to the death because they were "close friends" of his, but he doesn't mind watching them fight for up to 30 minutes? Huh?
The only caveat I would add to what's said in this article about dog fighting is that intentionally allowing your dogs to fight is a felony. However, please remember that any two dogs can have an unpremeditated spat. If your neighbor's Fluglehounds have a quarrel about food, that's not organized dog fighting, even if you don't like your neighbor.
As far as I know, dog fighting isn't a big problem in the area where I live. Cockfighting, however, is another matter. There have been lots of busts in a neighboring county. That's another one of those things I just don't get.
From the NY Daily News
Roy Jones: I let my dogs fight
BY IAN BEGLEY
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Sunday, December 30th 2007, 5:09 AM
Roy Jones Jr. has been an outspoken critic of the prosecution of Michael Vick for his participation in a dogfighting ring, and has boasted in the past about raising roosters for cockfighting on his 88-acre ranch in Cantonment, Fla., where he also houses pit bulls, horses and cows.
On Friday, after practicing with the Knicks in Greenburgh to promote his Jan.19 fight with Felix Trinidad at the Garden, Jones admitted he'd allowed the pit bulls he breeds on his property to fight.
"I was (letting them fight) to a degree, but not like that serious," Jones Jr. told the Daily News after reporters had peppered the light-heavyweight with questions about the Knicks and his fight with Trinidad. "I just let my dogs get down five, 10 minutes, 15 minutes. Maybe like the longest I let them go was a half-hour, but I never let them fight to the death 'cause I can't take that.
"I knew about it, but I wasn't going to take it that seriously. I couldn't see my dogs fight to the death 'cause they were too close of friends to me."
John Goodwin, the deputy manager of animal fighting issues for the Humane Society of the United States, said it is a felony under Florida law to allow dogs to fight on one's property.
"If you put your dogs down there for 10, 15 minutes, that's a felony in Florida," Goodwin said.
It is unclear when Jones last allowed his dogs to fight on his property, but by talking openly about the subject, he may have opened himself up to a criminal investigation, according to Goodwin.
"If he's admitting that he's fighting his dogs, then they need to go down there with a search warrant and confiscate those dogs," Goodwin said.
In a 2003 interview with Esquire, Jones indicated that he prepares roosters to engage in cockfighting, which is a felony in 49 states, including Florida. Jones also owns a cockfighting ring in Louisiana, where attendees bet on staged fights between roosters, according to the Humane Society. Louisiana is the last state to allow legal cockfighting, but a law banning the sport will take effect in August 2008.
"It's an open secret that he's involved in animal fighting," Goodwin said. "Why the authorities haven't done anything is a mystery to me."
In 2003, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals drafted a letter to the Escambia County (Fla.) Sheriff calling for an investigation into Jones' suspected involvement in cockfighting.
Dan Shannon, a spokesman for PETA, said "it's not really surprising" to hear that Jones talked openly about allowing dogs to fight on his property.
October 28th, 2008 at 7:28 am
i dont think what jones is doin is a good thing. making dog fight is the worse thing that can happen. is like killin a human that don't got nutin to do in all this fightin. i think we need to stop all this people from letting theire dog fight.