Cops seize ten illegal fight dogs; Dogs are seized in police raid.

POLICE have seized a further ten animals from the home of a man convicted of keeping a rare illegal fighting dog and two banned pitbull terriers.

Officers carried out a raid on the Smethwick home of Qamar Shamim on Thursday and found a kennel full of dogs being kept in poor conditions.

The animals, including a Rhodesian Ridgeback, five British Bulldogs, two American Bulldogs and two Staffordshire Bull terriers, were not illegal but were suspected of being used for breeding.

They had been given by Shamim to his brother after he was banned from keeping them earlier this week.

They are now being looked after by the police before the RSPCA will begin assessing them to see if they can be 'socialised' after their time in the kennel.

Police found them after they re-visited the house following the court hearing with a warrant for an unrelated matter. RPCA Chief Insp Ian Briggs said: "Up until now these dogs have endured a sad existence used as breeding machines. "They have no experience of a normal life such as being walked on a lead.

The dogs will be assessed in our care and provided with training with a view to finding each of them a loving new home." Shamim, 31, from Edgbaston Road, was banned from keeping animals for ten years by magistrates in Warley earlier this week and handed a 20-week prison sentence suspended for a year. He admitted three counts of keeping breeds banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act, one of them an 11-stone Japanese Tosa.

The Tosa, named Conan, is thought to be the first one of its kind found in the UK since they were banned in 1981. It is now being looked after by the force's dog handling unit to help identify similar animals in the future. PC Keith Evans, the force's Dog Legislation officer, said: "When we visited the property we found the dogs which had been handed over by the defendant to his brother. "We had great concerns about their welfare but the new owner co-operated fully and was pleased to hand ownership of them to us." Shamin also agreed to pull down the kennels.