Fraud and pit bull advocacy. Who would have expected this?

The money train that funds pit bull advocacy leaves the station in New York state from the farm owned by Jane Berkey, and headquarters of the Animal Farm Foundation.

A couple of years ago the Berkey-owned and funded AFF began placing shelter pit bulls, trained by Universal K9, with under-funded police departments in cash-poor communities as single purpose drug detection "police dogs."  These dogs were free to the communities and came with large public relations promotions.

Research on the program and the dogs revealed extremely limited training, dangerously limited training.  The AFF bragged shamelessly about these single-purpose dogs but fraud hung over this enterprise like a dirty cloud.  Fast forward to recent developments.  The owner and operator of Universal K9, Brad Croft, trainer paid by the Animal Farm Foundation to train shelter pit bulls as police dogs, was raided by the FBI, the IRS, and local humane investigators.  Croft has been arrested and charged with fraud and other crimes.

Animals 24/7 has done an excellent post on this ugly situation.  The post begins with this quote.  "The pit bull advocacy organization Animal Farm Foundation,  of Bangal,  New York,  had already had a difficult week,  even before a federal grand jury in San Antonio,  Texas on August 23,  2018 returned an indictment against Bradley Croft,  46,  on eight counts of wire fraud,  four counts of aggravated identity theft,  and two counts of money laundering.

Croft was the trainer whom the Animal Farm Foundation funded from 2013 to 2017 to prepare pit bulls for police work.

Please read what has been written by Merritt Clifton and Beth Clifton on the Animals 24/7 website.  Here is a link. There are so many angles on this mess that it makes your head spin.

Communities still using dogs trained by Croft should be VERY concerned about legal liability.  Bred for blood-sport stray dogs obtained from shelters desperate to unload unplaceable pit bulls placed through a fraudulent training program?  What could go wrong?

Brad Croft

For those interested in more reading on this.  Click here.   And here.  And here.



For more on the Animal Farm Foundation supplied and funded pit bull police dogs, here are photos of the dogs and their handlers plus a map of locations.   Handy. Lawyers for anyone injured by any of these dogs should find VERY deep pockets.  Suspect the page will not last long.  Get screenshots.

Yet another dog mauling death in Ohio

There has been another dog mauling death in Ohio. After four dog mauling deaths in 2017, more than any other state, a Cincinnati area mother, forty-two-year-old Della Riley was killed by her own pit bull in her own home yesterday. Police were called to the scene after neighbors noted the victim's young son who ran from the house asking for help.

The coroner's report stated that the woman was killed by her pit bull.  She also owned a Rottweiler but that dog was not implicated in the mauling death.  Reports by neighbors that the woman suffered a seizure prior to her death are unconfirmed.  Per Cincinnati.com "The mother had a seizure. I don't know if the dog got scared or whatever but he attacked her and ripped her throat out," said Jon Seymoure, who lives next door."

The woman also suffered a gunshot wound, postmortem.  She was hit by a ricochet shot from police who were forced to shoot the dog.  So far there have been no reports of previous incidents involving the pit bull but follow up stories may clarify that point.

For anyone keeping count, there have been sixteen dog mauling deaths since Ohio Lawmakers passed the bill sponsored by Representative Barbara Sears, HB 14 in 2012, just six years ago.  HB 14 was written in Utah by lawyers employed by Best Friends Animal Society.  This bill was sold to state lawmakers as "finally giving dog wardens the tools to deal with dangerous dogs."  In the decade prior to passage of the Best Friends bill, Ohio had five dog bite related fatalities.  The numbers speak for themselves.

Current Ohio law, written by a well funded out-of-state special interest organization employing lots of lobbyists and lawyers, has proven to be a complete disaster.  In response to the failure of current Ohio law, SB 195 and HB 352 were written to hold owners of violent dogs accountable and better protect peaceful Ohio residents but the bills languish in committee.

What is wrong with the Ohio Legislature?  How many people have to die?  The death of Della Riley was not the first bite from her pit bull.  Below is a screenshot from her Facebook page.









For video click here.