November 20, 1999, 65 people were arrested in a dog-fighting raid in Wayne County Saturday, Nov. 20, in one of the largest raids of the illegal "blood sport" in Georgia history. The five-month investigation was initiated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI).

The Wayne County Sheriff's Office, the District Attorney's Office for the Wayne Judicial Circuit, the Jacksonville Office of the Florida State Attorney's Office, the Department of Natural Resources, the Georgia State Patrol and surveillance aircraft from Mississippi and Alabama National Guards all participated in the raid.

Authorities executed a search warrant at the Beards Bluff residence, not far from Odum, Ga., in the evening hours and found two pit bulls fighting in a well-constructed, covered and lighted pit. Labeled as the "Super Bowl" of dog fighting, the event drew an out-of-state crowd, with some of the participants from as far as Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee. Close to 20 pit bulls were found on the property.

Lee Sweat, the GBI's lead investigator on dog fighting in his 28 years with the agency, says dozens of officers raided the "Super Bowl" during the second match. The intense pinkish-red hue of the video comes not from odd lighting, he says. The pit had been all beige and brand-new before the first match. By the time authorities burst in on this second match, the pit was completely stained with blood.

As seen in the video, the dogs kept fighting, even as the arrests continued around them. Finally, one of the agents moved in to separate the dogs.

Warning: disturbing and violent.

The GBI's Lee Sweat, with a losing dog which eventually had to be euthanized.



One of the losing dogs is seen in this video.

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