Federal agents recently intervened to rescue 78 dogs and apprehend a man in Alabama. The man, Carlton Lenard Adams, was involved in an illegal dog fighting ring across multiple properties and has been arrested. Prosecutors have charged Adams with various offenses, including illegally possessing animals for dog fighting and possessing illegal firearms.
All the rescued dogs may be eligible for adoption
On the day of Adams’ arrest, United States Attorney Prim Escalona and Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim jointly issued a press release announcing the news, as USA Today reports. As per the release, Adams possessed a total of 78 fighting dogs across these properties. The rescuers couldn’t immediately identify the dogs’ breeds.
These 78 dogs are in the care of a program run by the U.S. Marshals Service. Agents were able to confiscate the dogs through a separate and authorized civil forfeiture action. Under this ruling, Adams will not get the dogs back. In fact, efforts will be made to rehabilitate and assess them for potential adoption.
Adams’ properties comprised two within the city of Bessemer, located in the southwestern suburbs of Birmingham, Alabama. In addition, all three properties were within Jefferson County and were less than 10 miles apart from each other.
Prosecutors detailed items recovered during the properties’ search, including tools and supplies associated with training and maintaining dogs for fighting purposes. These items comprised modified treadmills for conditioning, injectable veterinary steroids, suture materials, syringes, and a skin stapler.
Additionally, they found a break stick device for intervening in dog fights and a homemade breeding stand utilized to immobilize aggressive female dogs during mating.
The search also revealed two pistols and a semi-automatic shotgun equipped with a “street sweeper” drum cartridge. Prosecutors identified this as an illegal “destruction device.” This firearm possesses the ability to discharge more than 10 rounds simultaneously.
Thus, Adams remains in jail at present, awaiting arraignment on the charges.
