Man in Jail for Dog Abuse

Man in Jail for Dog Abuse


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(KSL News) -- A Salt Lake City man is in jail after what police call decades of dog abuse.

Over the past 30 years, John Clinton Smith has faced several charges of animal cruelty. He now faces one felony for animal abuse and two misdemeanors--one for practicing veterinary medicine without a license.

Almost two weeks ago Animal Control officers seized seven malnourished pit bulls from Smith, and found what they believe is dog fighting equipment in his home.

Temma Martin, Salt Lake County Animal Services: "The fact that people can stand around and bet and watch dogs tear each other apart is absolutely disgusting and heartbreaking. And yet this is something people do for sport."

The dogs will likely be euthanized because they've been trained to attack.

You can learn more about the undergound world of dog-fighting in Friday's Deseret Morning News.

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