BREEDING HATRED; L.A. CAN'T SEEM TO STOP PIT BULL TRAGEDIES.

Byline: Robert Monroe Staff Writer

When police raided a dogfight in Pacoima, they found a white pit bull whose face was bloodied and whose ears had nearly been ripped off.

The pit bull later named L.A. is lucky in one sense. Of an estimated 17,000 pit bulls and pit-bull mixes found wandering the streets, thousands are throwaway fighting veterans, maimed and mangled, officials said.

They are the products of backyard breeders and dogfighting rings, both of which flourish nearly unabated. Despite $500 fines and prison sentences of up to three years for dogfighting, the city and county of Los Angeles have had difficulty stopping it and the illegal breeding of pit bulls.

In the case of L.A., a neighbor's complaint led investigators to that fight two years ago, but such tips that prove useful are rare, authorities said.

``We get beaucoup complaints regarding dogfighting, but they're gone by the time we get there,''' said Los Angeles Animal Services Lt. Tim Goffa of the East Valley Shelter. ``There are hundreds of dogfights, but arresting them and proving it is another world.''

Only three dogfighting cases have gone to court in the San Fernando Valley since 1996, and only 22 have been prosecuted citywide in the same time period, according to prosecutors.

The last prosecution in the San Fernando Valley was in 1997: Two men pleaded guilty, with one going to prison for 16 months and the other for a year. But they are the exception rather than the rule.

Faced with this tide of stray dogs, the city is considering a controversial law that would require all dog and cat owners to pay $100 for having unneutered animals, and breeders would have to pay $200.

Breeders and even animal control officers are skeptical that the ordinance will work.

Young predicted such an ordinance might stop a few of the backyard breeders, but he said only people raising dogs for illegal fights will ignore the law.

And Tia Torres, who operates a pit bull rescue shelter in Agua Dulce that takes in the ragged victims of the dogfighting trade, said that convincing dogfighters to change their ways would be futile.

Five officers would be hired to enforce the ordinance, bringing the department's staffing to 62 for a population of 3.8 million people, 137,000 licensed dogs and an unknown number of unlicensed pets.

The next public hearing on the ordinance is scheduled for Sept. 6 at a site to be announced in the East Valley.

The problem of vicious stray dogs is so bad that more officer-involved shootings in Los Angeles involve canines than people, and most of those are pit bulls. An April report by Police Chief Bernard C. Parks' office revealed that of 47 vicious dogs shot by police last year, 31 were pit bulls.

Department of Animal Services officials say the phenomenon is fueled by gang culture and is flourishing nationwide, but especially in the East San Fernando Valley.

``These are the dogs of choice for unscrupulous people,'' said Torres.

Have dog, will fight

Without changes in enforcement and in attitudes, demand for pit bulls will stay high and backyard breeders will continue to feed it, say legitimate breeders.

``We want the fastest cars; we want the newest dress; and we want the toughest dog. In the inner-city, they may not be able to buy a new Ferrari, but they can get the toughest dog,'' Young said.

There are already tough laws for conviction, but the penalties typically have been light.

Two men pleaded no contest in the Compton area in June to cruelty to animal charges after being caught dogfighting. One received 44 days in jail, and the other, 76 days.

The penalty for illegal breeding, a misdemeanor, is either a $1,000 fine or 6 months of jail time.

Los Angeles County sheriff's Detective Bobby Beals, who also consults other law enforcement agencies in dogfighting and cockfighting investigations, said there are two kinds of dogfights: street dogfights and organized fights staged by underground rings.

The former are far more common and start with spontaneous bets or boasts among rival pit bull owners - usually teen-agers. The fights take place in parks or back yards sometimes accompanied by small wagers but often for bragging rights alone.

They are particularly hard to find, and animal control officers and rescuers often only arrive on the bloody scene after a complaint from a neighbor. Often they find injured animals and have no choice but to take them to the shelters where they are put down. Beals doesn't regard the discarded dogs as ever having been pets in the true sense.

``Man's best friend was not designed to be a war machine,'' he said.

Dogfighting investigators have seen dogs beaten, slashed, set afire and subjected to dousings with battery acid to make them better fighters or punish them for losing.

Among the recent wards at Torres' shelter was Mr. Bill, a pit bull found hogtied on an offramp in Compton. The dog had several bite marks over his body and battery acid had been poured on his head. Skin on his ears and face had burned away. Torres said she rehabilitated him and found an adoptive family in Palm Springs.

Another pit bull named Winky was 4 weeks old when brought to Torres' shelter. The dog had welts and lesions on his head, suggesting to Torres that Winky had been kicked or dropped intentionally. Most glaring was the wound that gave Winky his name. His left eye was detached from its socket. Animal control officers took Winky to a veterinarian, who surgically removed the eye before turning him over to Torres.

L.A.'s story also ended happily. He now belongs to Torres.

Boston and San Francisco have drafted neighborhood watch groups and animal control departments along with police in staking out parks where dogfights are common, said Eric Sakach, director of the West Coast Regional office of the Humane Society of the United States. The task forces videotape gang dogfights, then swarm the parks to make arrests.

In a new program conceived late last year, San Diego County prosecutors have sought to prohibit ownership of pit bulls or other large dogs as a term of probation following drug- and gang-related convictions.

Young thinks the ordinance might take a few of the backyard breeders supplying pit bull puppies out of the game but thinks only people obeying the law now will obey this new addition. And Torres said that convincing dogfighters to change their ways would be futile.

``In neighborhoods where kids are killing each other, they're not going to treat their dogs any better,'' she said.

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--Color) Winky gets a hug from Mariah Torres at a pit bull shelter in Agua Dulce. The pup's injuries included an eye that had to be removed.

(2--Color) Thousands of pit bulls and pit-bull mixes found wandering the streets are throwaway fighting veterans.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer