COLUMBUS – Animal cruelty investigators seized 45 dogs and Columbus police took 11 people into custody this morning in multiple raids across the city, all part of a dogfighting investigation that began more than a year ago.
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Columbus police and agents with the Capital Area Humane Society said the dogs, drugs and guns were seized from four homes on the Hilltop and one on the Far East Side. They were assisted in the early morning searches by Franklin County deputies, FBI agents, and investigators from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Sgt. Rich Weiner, a police division spokesman, said the investigation started about 18 months ago, with one suspect and 15 dogs. As the scope of the dogfighting operation became apparent, the humane society asked for Columbus police to join the probe, Executive Director Rachel Finney said.
Weiner said the dogs would be housed at an undisclosed location other than the humane society to protect them and the investigation.