Mountaintop Natural Pets

PIT BULL POSES: From fight ring to Time magazine models – that’s the fate of 26 pit bulls and pit bull mixes that have been cared for by the Humane Society of Missouri since they were seized in July in the raid of a multi-state dog fighting ring.

Jeane Jae, a humane society spokeswoman, said today that David Stewart, a Time mag photographer from Los Angeles, came into town the weekend of Nov. 6 through 8 and shot pictures of dogs for 2 ½ days before spending another part of a day shooting video of the pooches.

Stewart shot pictures of 75 dogs; 26 of the photos will be used in the magazine that hits newsstands on Friday, Jae said. She said the video should be available for viewing then, too.

More than 500 dogs were seized in the raid of the dog fighting ring, which was described as the largest in the country. The investigation began with the state’s humane society, which passed the information to federal and state investigators including the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Inspector General, undercover Missouri Highway Patrol officers and the FBI.

Jae said 21 of the 407 dogs rescued in Missouri and Illinois were pregnant and have had more than 100 puppies. Many of the dogs have been adopted by rescue groups that help socialize pit bulls and mixes that were bred for fighting, she added. Jae said the humane society does not adopt the dogs out to families because of their need to be socialized in preparation for future family adoptions.

Stewart set up a photo portrait studio in an emergency shelter at an undisclosed site so he could get pictures of the animals. Jae said he has had dogs of his own and was wonderful with the rescued pups.

“He got down on the floor with them and played with them and loved up on them,” Jae said. “He is an animal person.”

Still, it took more than that to get good photos of the dogs, which must be handled separately due to their being bred to fight with other dogs. Jae said the dogs are great with people but bad with other dogs.

Tim Rickey, director of the humane society’s animal cruelty task force, did voice over for the video, in which he talks about the rescue and the raid. Kathy Warnick, president of the state humane society, was on the set, as were Debbie Hill, the VP of operations, and Kyle Held, an animal cruelty investigator.