(WSVN) - Neighbors in one South Florida community are worried there could be a dog in danger. We’ve got the exclusive video that even has animal services concerned. 7’s Brian Entin has our special report.
The video is a bit shaky, but it clearly shows a dog in a cage running on a treadmill.
Odalys Fernandez, neighbor: “And then I saw a pig. There was a pig in there as well!”
A pig! In a separate cage on the ground.
The dog on the treadmill appears to be chasing the pig in this Southwest Miami-Dade backyard. A pig it clearly could not catch.
Four people can be seen in the video, including a child. In the background, there’s more cages.
Brian Entin: “What do you think is happening in this video?”
Odalys Fernandez: “What I think is happening? They are training the dog for fights!”
This woman lives directly behind the house. She says she has counted nine dogs living there.
Odalys Fernandez: “I like dogs and I like people, and what they did to those dogs — I don’t like it. And when I saw that one dog with all the mosquitos on top of the bite that he had…”
Neighbors say about a month and a half ago, they noticed the fence outside the house was down. And all of the dogs, the pig and the equipment was gone.
Odalys Fernandez: “All the cages. Everything was gone. But I have seen the man there the other day.”
No one answered the front door of the house.
Brian Entin: “I’m doing a story about the dogs that were in the backyard.”
A women through a side window said she knows nothing about the dogs.
Miami-Dade Animal Services has the video but won’t talk about this case, citing an ongoing investigation.
But in general, the department urges witnesses of animal fighting to call police, adding, “…There are other elements that are associated with dog fighting such as betting, drugs, weapons…”
Franco Sicheri, animal behaviorist: “It’s potentially fatal. It’s deadly. A lot of these fights are done to the death.”
We showed Sicheri the video.
Franco Sicheri: “That just looks dangerous. If the dog becomes too tired, or he falls, he is inside of a cage. The treadmill looked homemade. That didn’t look like a normal treadmill.”
Franco saved his pit bull Max and believes his dog may have been used for fighting.
He says what stands out to him in this video is the dog’s head is down, and the dog looks tired.
Franco Sicheri: “You are putting these dogs through a lot of physical abuse. Not only through the fighting, but through the training itself. It’s heartbreaking.”
South Florida’s animal rescue community is already heartbroken after a pit bull mix named Ollie was found stabbed, stuffed in a suitcase and dumped in an alley earlier this month in Hollywood.
And now this in Miami-Dade.
Animal services says they have been to the property, and their investigation continues.
Brian Entin, 7News.
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