Andrea Rosebrock 
In a follow-up to a story I did the other day about Edward Faron being sentenced to only 8-10 months after being convicted of 14 felony dogfighting counts, it’s now official, all the seized dogs plus the puppies that have been born since the dogs were seized have been ordered killed. About 60 of the now approximately 150 dogs are puppies.
Yesterday, after hearing from the HSUS, a prosecutor, the attorney for Wilkes County government, Wilkes County’s animal-control director, all calling for the dogs to be killed, Superior Court Judge Ed Wilson Jr. handed down the order.
Two members of the HSUS said the dogs had been bred for aggression and and the Wilkes animal control director said that some of the dogs that were puppies when they were seized were already showing aggression.
That’s not really surprising considering I’m sure these dogs and puppies have been only minimally cared for, not trained or socialized. It could happen with just about any dog.
Best Friends Society tried to get their side heard without any luck. Although they said they have been trying to get in touch with Assistant District Attorney Fred Bauer since mid-January, Bauer told the Judge that he’d only heard from them last week and did not recall getting any messages from them prior to that. Best Friends had also gotten in contact with County Attorney Tony Triplett within days of the December raid and offered to work with rescue agencies to place the dogs.
“Those dogs are going to be killed solely because of prejudice,” said Ledy VanKavage, an attorney for Best Friends Animal Society, which had offered to pay to have the dogs evaluated and to spay or neuter the adoptable dogs.
“They should be judged as individuals just as people are,” VanKavage said. “It’s a massacre.”
The case had been set for trial next month. People working on rescuing the dogs thought they had more time.VanKavage said that when she learned about yesterday’s ruling she called Wilkesboro attorney William Burke to seek an injunction against destroying the dogs. She said Burke reported that when he got to the courthouse shortly before it closed, the judge was gone and the order was already signed. She said that Burke told her he thought the dogs would be dead before he could get the request before the judge.
It was unclear last night if the dogs had already been destroyed.
VanKavage said that Bauer misrepresented her side’s interest to the judge and it affected the proceeding.
“I think the judge wanted to hear our side of it and if we’d gotten some notice, we could have gotten into that courtroom, but the DA’s office chose to stonewall us and because of that, these puppies died,” she said. (Winston-Salem Journal)
And on a sidenote, the third defendant in the case, Amanda Grace Lunsford, Faron’s adopted son’s fiancee, pleaded to guilty to a misdemeanor count of cruelty to animals. She was originally charged with felony dogfighting but as part of the plea agreement, it was downgraded to a misdemeanor animal cruelty charge, just another slap on the wrist. She was sentenced to 45 days, which was suspended for 24 months of supervised probation.
So yet again, the only ones to really pay a price, the ultimate price, were the only ones we know were innocent. Everyone else will be able to go on with their lives and who will mourn the dead, the innocents victimized at the hands of man, again and again and killed?
Rest in Peace……
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_a.png?x-id=b6dd55bf-2a24-4fa7-896f-ff730eefd347)
It’s so sad and unfair that those dogs lived a horrible life and will never have a chance at a little happiness. Mr. Faron and his buddies are the ones who should be euthanized (or worse).
This so extremely wrong, on so many levels. Again, pit bulls being vicitmized and killed by the people that are suppose to protect them! I hope the Judge, D.A. and most importantly HSUS are all “repaid” for making sure these innocent dogs were murdered! Most of the puppies were born after their mother’s were taken into custody!!! Now you tell me, how the hell were those puppies already showing signs of aggression??? Give me a friggin break! As far as I’m concerned the HSUS needs to be shut down, boycott if nothing else. They show up at these trials without knowing anything at all about Pit Bulls and get on the stand like they are “expert witnesses”. They aren’t experts at anything except killing innocent dogs. This absolutely infuriates me. I don’t know when I have been this mad and outraged. I hope they all rot in hell!
I’ll make an attempt to contain myself. This story has bothered me all day to the top of feeling physically ill. I cannot understand- by any stretch of the imagination – how a POS like Faron and his minions get a slap on the wrist and heartfelt “bad boy” AND 127 dogs and ??? newborn pups get a trip to the gas chamber! Oh and lets not forget the huge “WELL DONE” to the HSUS.
I can see where their fine work would be elevated and their recommendation taken note of over some fly-by-night group like Best Friends or their own employees who actually worked with these animals.
SCORE CARD
Idiots-friends of the Court and — 1 innocents–0
the Court- HSUS
“It’s a massacre”..That’s it plain and simple!!!…Just shameful!!!..Puppies?!!WTF!!It’s bad enough to turn your back on animals that have been the pawn of human selfishness..tortured for greed(unimaginable!!)…..But to turn your back a second time..after you knew the injustice that was dealt them, condemning them to death..and try to say you give a damn about animals?!!??I don’t get it!!…There is no excuse!!!SHAMEFUL!!!
Why do they always kill the dogs, Its the People who did the wrong…Kill them
Hmmm! I’m really not at all surprised by what happened to these beautiful, innocent, helpless pits and pups. It’s kinda the way they do things now. I don’t believe that the HSUS knows a damn thing about compassion and love or even like animals at all. #1……why the hell are we paying these type of people to keep our animals safe, when all they due is sentence them to death? So many Americans out of work right now and we have these idiots PROTECTING our animals. Bet, somewhere, there is someone out of a job that would love to serve and protect our four legger’s. #2……….the judge and D.A. must have had relitives or even themselves been a part of the Holocaust. That is the true meaning of MURDER! Those horrible people had no compassion or respect for life or any kind of love in their hearts. How in God’s name can you condemn PUPPIES to death…PUPPIES for pete’s sake?? There is no way PUPPIES can be aggresive coming out of the womb….no way in hell!! And, if this is the case, why then, do we let human baby’s live, born from murders and other human monsters? Can’t we make the same assumption that they will become aggresive and kill and mame as they age??? Sorry to go on about this….guess I’n just really pissed off! Sorry.
That Judge should be dibarred and the Hsus shut down. The rules for a Humane Society should be to protect and find decent homes. God knows they get enough money. I belong to the HS of MI and of the US and if this is what they do, I’ll not sign up again. I wish I had the money to open a shelter for these poor neglected animals and find them loving homes. There is no way a puppy just being born is aggressive. I have to agree with Jessie here. If that is the case then babies born to killers should be killed at birth or aborted. And a slap on the wrist, this is a slap to all animal lovers. Let’s put these scumbags in a cage and teach them to be wild and then kill them because they are. Sounds like a great plan to me. We need more petitions out there to stop these hidious acts of justice, if you want to call it that. The people that treat animals so cruely don’t even deserve to be citizens of this country. Deport them if you can’t kill them.