Sergeant Steve Brownstein comes across the same scene day after day in residential neighborhoods throughout the city: wounded and malnourished pit bulls chained in dark, feces-strewn basements, closets, garages, or vacant apartments. The animals’ owners, who use them in dogfights and bet on the contests, routinely punch, kick, and otherwise torment them, even feeding them hot peppers, to turn them into ferocious fighters. By the time-Brownstein gets to them, they usually cower at the, sight of humans. He approaches them slowly, speaking gently and reaching out to pet them. Their fur is often slick with petroleum jelly, which is meant to frustrate opponents’ attacks. Still, the dogs usually display multiple injuries: bite wounds, broken or fractured limbs, eye infections. Their scarred faces testify to past traumas.
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“The scenes are horrific, Brownstein says. “It’s very bloody. I’ve seen literally every body part of an animal torn apart from it: genitals, intestines unraveling, trachea torn out, faces torn off, eyes mutilated blinded. Animals often go into shock. They defecate, they urinate, they cry out in pain. Children watch this. They’re getting used to animals going into shock, the screams, the cries, the bloody scenes.”
