Wilkes County Animal Control destroyed 146 pit bulls yesterday, following an order issued Monday by Superior Court Judge Ed Wilson Jr. The dogs were associated with Wildside Kennels, whose owner, Ed Faron, 61, was convicted last week of 14 felony counts of dog fighting.
Authorities seized 127 of the dogs in a raid on Faron's property on Dec. 10, 2008. The rest of the dogs have been born since the raid. The county had acknowledged that some litters had been born, but yesterday was the first time the county released the actual number of dogs involved.
According to the judge's ruling, state law defines dogs as dangerous if they are involved in a dog fighting operation and a county ordinance requires that dangerous dogs be destroyed. Authorities said that Faron bred and sold fighting dogs.
The raid was the result of a 3-year investigation by The Humane Society of the U.S., in cooperation with Wilkes County Animal Control and the Wilkes County Sheriff's Office. Representatives of The Humane Society told the judge that the dogs should be destroyed, because they had been bred for generations to be aggressive.
A number of animal rescue groups had offered to place the dogs, but none of their representatives were at Monday's hearing when the judge was considering what should happen to the dogs.
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