The reason pit bulls were used in organized dogfighting? Sure, they have strong jaws—but what made it even possible to train them to fight was that they are so loyal. They’ll do whatever their human asks.
And humans have asked a lot of them.
Last Day on a Chain: Stories of Compassion, Salvation, and Misperceptions is a new book by St. Louis photojournalist Mike Bizelli. He documents 10 major fight-dog rescues, then follows 36 dogs for years afterward. You see them with their faces shredded or limbs torn off—but then you see them gently soothed and tended at animal shelters, rehabilitated into trust, adopted into loving homes. With first-person narratives and more than 200 images, as well as expert commentary by rescuers, law enforcement, veterinarians, and shelter workers, Bizelli melts “the myth of the monster pit bull.”
It’s a myth that worked its way into his own psyche, when he waited in the pre-dawn darkness outside the fence of a big yard in Hannibal, Missouri. “There were probably 25 or 30 dogs, each on its own chain. The chains probably weighed 20 pounds, and they were attached to car axels driven straight into the ground. Sometimes you’ll see the owners tie them to concrete blocks for extra weight, to build the dogs’ strength.”
Bizelli had his camera ready; he regularly photographs rescues for the Humane Society of Missouri and the ASPCA. This one, though, was different: the result of an 18-month undercover operation alongside the FBI and other agencies that produced the largest fight dog rescue in US history.
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Photo by Mike Bizelli
Dr. Jill Kirk, a veterinarian with the ASPCA, rescues a pit bull fight dog during the Alabama 367 on August 23, 2013. "When I got to this dog, slipped the leash around her neck and removed the chain, she was frozen. It was like she had no idea how to walk, how to move beyond the circle that had likely been her entire life," she said."
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Photo by Mike Bizelli
Dharma's last day on a chain was July 8, 2009. She was rescued near Hannibal, MO, as part of the largest fight dog rescue in US history.
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Photo by Mike Bizelli
Tim Rickey of the Humane Society of Missouri leads a pit bull fight dog from a fight pit deep in the woods near Hannibal, Missouri. The secretiveness of dog fighting is reflected on the trailer's message.
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Photo by Mike Bizelli
A pit bull puppy will never know life on a chain after its rescue in Lee County, Alabama, on August 13, 2013.
The rescue team had to figure out how to remove all these dogs without letting them cross paths, lest they attack each other. Bizelli gulped. He knew how organized dog fighting trained and treated pit bulls, and he was expecting to find “many monsters.”
When the dogs registered human presence, they came out of their plywood or plastic-barrel “houses” and barked furiously—for attention. They weren’t growling, he noticed with surprise. Just excited.
Then Bizelli he the yellow gleam of a black pit bull’s eyes. She’d stayed in her house, but her teeth were bared. Here was the monster he’d been expecting.
“Got a mean one over here,” he called to Tim Rickey of HSMO, who was leading the rescue. “She’s showing nothing but teeth.”
She came out slowly, still baring her teeth. Then “her rear end and tail started gyrating like an out-of-kilter washing machine,” as Bizelli would write later.
Rickey crouched down next to her and stroked her gently. “She’s not mean,” he said. “She’s had her lips cut off.”
Photo by Mike Bizelli
Checkers is a survivor of the Alabama 367 fight dog rescue.
The Missouri 500, as the operation was called, rescued more than 400 dogs all told, some of whom soon delivered pups. They were taken to a shelter—a St. Louis warehouse converted to “The Pit Palace” and kept under 24-hour armed guard. “These dogs are worth thousands of dollars,” explains Bizelli. “If a dog wins three fights, it’s a champion; five, and it’s a grand champion” that can be bred for huge profit
Gale Frey and Dave Melot, who run a bully-breed rescue group called Mutts n Stuff, adopted Fay into their family and heaped affection on her. The next time Bizelli saw his monster, she was dressed in an elf costume for a fundraiser, “her teeth still hangin’ out.” A woman in a wheelchair took one look at Fay’s raw mouth and held out her arms: “Give her to me.” Fay spent the rest of the afternoon snuggled on her lap. Later, a specialist tried to repair Fay’s mouth, but she did not survive the surgery.
Pit bulls (now called pibbles or pitties to remove the stigma) were once a delightful part of American culture. “Little Rascals had a pit bull,” says Bizelli. “Helen Keller had a pit bull. The pit bull was a nanny dog.” After watching enough rescues, he wrote Last Day on a Chain. The name came easily, he says, “because the last day on the chain is when I see them. And then they start a whole new life.
“I did all this research on the history of dog fighting,” he adds. “I showed it to my wife, who’s a good editor, and she read it and said, ‘No. This book isn’t about dog fighting. This book is about what happens because of dog fighting.’”
And then, what happens later. He chuckles, thinking about Theodore, who was on a chain in Alabama. “About a year and a half later, I caught up with Theodore in his home in North Carolina. I was sitting on the front porch, and he came up, put his paws on my neck, and gave me a lick.”
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Photo by Mike Bizelli
Jason and Kelly Garrison of O'Fallon, MO, are with Bumper and Willis, survivors of dog fighting. "The biggest misperception is that they're all mean," said Jason.
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Photo by Mike Bizelli
Shari Gordon, a shelter worker with the ASPCA, has her hands full during bath time with puppies rescued from a Bronx, NY, dog fighter in June 21, 2012.
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Photo by Mike Bizelli
his pit bull fight dog was rescued near Bethany, Missouri, in March 2013. Play time at the shelter near Kansas City is monitored by animal behaviorists.
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Photo by Mike Bizelli
Karma the rescued pit bull fight dog plays follow-the-leader with her pal, Omar. Animal rights attorney Ledy VanKavage adopted Karma after her rescue.
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Photo by Mike Bizelli
Ledy VanKavage adopted Karma after her rescue from the Missouri 500 in July 2009. VanKavage is a senior legislative attorney for Best Friends Animal Society. "In America, response pet owners should be allowed to own whatever breed of dog they choose. It's that simple," she says.
Not every dog reaches that nirvana. After medical treatment, trust-building, and socialization at the shelter, they’re given a battery of tests and evaluated by veterinary behaviorists. “If a dog is too aggressive…it’s not good,” says Bizelli.
Then he brightens. At the start of the Missouri 500 investigation, the team wondered how many dogs were part of this ring—and how many they’d be able to save. “At first they thought, ‘If we can save 5 to 10 percent, we’ll consider that a success,’” Bizelli says. “They saved about half.”
More is possible than people realize, he says, “because every dog is an individual. Breed-specific legislation? I’m hoping it’s on its way out. People can’t have pit bulls in certain neighborhoods; can’t get insurance because they have a pit bull. What’s next, German shepherds? I’ve been bitten twice in my life. Once by a Dalmation, and once by a chihuahua.”
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Photo by Mike Bizelli
Jim Wall of St. Louis gets a nuzzle from Josey, a survivor from the Missouri 500.
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Photo by Mike Bizelli
Linda Clouse of St. Louis embraces Allie, a survivor of the Alabama 367 fight dog rescue.
