Hello Celebritys

The day before our shots fair in East Oakland, Oakland PD busted a cockfighting operation in a warehouse in the same neighborhood, arresting 69 people. After a heavy weekend of wrangling birds, shuffling loads of office furniture around to re-tile shelter floors, dealing with heavy rains & pent up, muddy dogs, and the details of a busy Shots Fair, everyone at Oakland Animal Services was more than exhausted and ready for a power nap Sunday night.

Bravo to OPD for getting this bust. I love that OAS staff selected eight hens from the bust for its adoption program. Fighting birds - like "fighting dogs" - deserve to be treated as individuals too!

When animal control officers arrived, they found two roosters, one dead and one dying, in the constructed “fight pit,” 28 recently dead birds in a hole in the yard, 10 dead birds inside, and 80 live birds. Approximately half of the live birds were moderately to severely injured. These injuries consisted of lacerations from fighting with “gaffs,” extremely sharp knifes that are attached to their feet. As the birds fight, these knives slice and cut, until one bird is killed and the other is declared the “winner.”

Camp Fire

Eight out-of-towners returned home from BR's winter Pit Ed Camp session this week. A big crew! Campers came from New Orleans LA-SPCA, the Illinois Humane, PAWS Chicago, ASPCA Spay/Neuter Mobile Clinic, Indianapolis ACC, Humane Society of Indianapolis and Indy Pit Crew! We had a blast with this group of diehards and look forward to working together on future projects. Woof!



BIG PRIDE for alum campers from Hillsborough County Animal Services (Tampa) Florida today. Not only are they spitting back at talk of a breed ban in Florida, they spun the media interest around to support the breed and promote their pit bull adoption program instead. Ha! Now that's style.