News Briefs
July 18, 2003
CTNow.Com

NEW BRITAIN

PETA Involved

In Pit Bull Case

NEW BRITAIN - A national animal rights group is asking state prosecutors to take a very tough stance on the case of a New Britain teenager accused of breaking the leg of a pit bull that was winning a fight with the teenager's own pit bull.

In a press release, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said Cesar D. Santos, 17, should face felony charges for participating in dogfighting, in addition to the animal cruelty charge he now faces.

Santos is free on a $500 bond and is scheduled to appear in New Britain Superior Court July 28.

Police said Santos was walking his pit bull Scarface near Elam Street on Monday when he happened upon another pit bull. He encouraged the two dogs to fight, but his dog starting losing, police said. They said Santos got a baseball bat and struck the other dog four or five times, breaking the dog's back leg. Once the dog was crippled by the injury, Santos urged his dog to attack the other dog, police said.

The injured dog was taken to a veterinarian.

"Animal abusers are cowards who take their issues and aggression out on the most defenseless beings available to them," said Todd Stosuy, an animal cruelty caseworker in PETA's Norfolk, Va., headquarters.