WICHITA, Kansas, July 3, 2008 – Wichita police believe they have busted a training ground for a dogfighting ring. It’s the first major case since a city ordinance changed less than a year ago.

A pit bull attacked Chris Boyd’s miniature pincher, Taz, Wednesday and it had to be put down.     

"There are a lot of kids on this street and if it was a baby out here instead of a dog, it would have been the baby or kid that got hurt instead of my dog,” Boyd said.

The pit bull escaped from the house next-door to Boyd in the 1500 block of N. Piatt in northeast Wichita. Authorities say that home was vacant and being used for only one reason: dogfighting.

"The inside of the home was like an unkempt dog pen,” said Don Henry with the City of Wichita. “The conditions were unlivable for a human and probably a cruel situation for a dog to be in."

Animal control officers removed six dogs from the house; many with scars from apparent fights, including a four-month-old puppy. There were also two treadmills inside used for conditioning, blood smeared on the walls and a sledgehammer most likely used to kill the losing dog.

"Textbook of what we were shown at our training that an animal fighting or training operation would look like and that's what we found,” said Dennis Graves with Wichita Animal Control.

Only two months ago animal control officers learned about spotting dogfighting rings. This is the first case to fall under the new city ordinance. It allows prosecution if dogfighting paraphernalia is found instead of having to catch the suspects in the act of a dogfight to prosecute as was the case before.

The law is in response to 68 pit bulls being found in another home two years ago that authorities said was used for fighting. The new regulations help authorities attack what they say is a huge problem in the city: animal fighting.

No arrests have been made in connection to this case.