Case Snapshot

Case ID: 11859

Classification: Neglect / Abandonment, Beating

Animal: dog (pit-bull)

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Breeder neglect - 30 dogs beaten and starved
Fort Pierce, FL (US)

Incident Date: Tuesday, Jul 24, 2007
County: Saint Lucie

Disposition: Alleged
Case Images: 2 files available

Alleged: Nahume Belvilus

Case Updates: 2 update(s) available

As the sun baked late Tuesday afternoon, sweat dripped down the faces of several law enforcement and city animal control officers surrounding the home of Nahume Belvilus in the 200 block of South 24th Street. As they pounded on Belvilus' door with a search warrant, not a peep could be heard from dozens of pit bulls confined to Belvilus' backyard.

No one was home, but that didn't stop the officers. They were there for one thing: to save dozens of abused pit bulls they became aware of Saturday and got a search warrant for their rescue on Tuesday.

Neighbors watched from their driveways and customers at the Walgreen's near Belvilus' property looked on in bewilderment.

Nobody knows just how long Belvilus, 29, beat and starved 30 pit bulls restrained in his backyard with heavy chains fastened to metal stakes. Neighbors said the wooden fence and the rare barks from the dogs shielded them from noticing the abuse.

The dogs were home quarantined under Belvilius' wife's care with Animal Control checking on them several times a day until a search warrant could be obtained.

Deanna Froisland, a self-described animal lover who lives directly across the street from Belvilus and has a "pampered" pit bull, broke down in tears as she watched the animals being removed from the property.

"I never heard those dogs except once in the morning and once in the evening," she said. "I thought everything was cool there. I thought maybe he had 10. I wonder what he would do with children if he would hurt animals like this?"

To the surprise of many, the dogs overall were friendly and wagged their tails as animal control officers loaded them into several crates in the backs of trucks. Some had to be carried because they were too scared to walk on their own.

Frank Andrews, director of the Humane Society of St. Lucie County, said the shelter would make room for all the dogs, doubling up some of them in kennels.

He said the Humane Society will set up a special fund for the animals, which are going to require extensive medical treatment. At this point, it's unclear whether any of the animals will be adopted, Andrews said.

Andrews said these dogs "did not get into this bad of shape in a vacuum. Surely someone would have seen something."

It took a 911 call from a concerned neighbor who heard a dog whimpering Saturday afternoon to bring a police officer out to the scene. The officers witnessed Belvilus beating several of his dogs to send a group of guardian angels to these animals' rescue.

After seizing the dogs, Fort Pierce Police Capt. Brian Humm said police are investigating if Belvilus raised the animals as "bait" dogs for dog fighting. When questioned, Belvilus told officers he bred the dogs to sell them and that it was a business. Bait dogs are trained to be submissive and used to train an "attack" dog, Humm said.

He described the dogs' living conditions as horrendous and complete squalor.

"In my years, I've never seen this many animals bred like this, nor have I seen the behavior toward these animals this bad," Humm said.

Belvilus, who's in the St. Lucie County Jail on $175,000 bond, is charged with nine felonies and 13 misdemeanors based on the police officer's observation of the beatings, Humm said.

"In order for us to prove felony animal abuse ... the jury will have to prove torture was involved," Humm said.

Each animal would be examined by the Humane Society of St. Lucie County's veterinarian, Dana Juillerat, owner of Tri-County Animal Hospital, to determine the degree of cruelty each animal has been subjected to, Humm said.

"Some may have no signs or we may have no evidence," he said. "Others we may have definitive evidence on. We have an officer's eyewitness testimony that is going to offer some evidence at this point. That was the evidence that was uncovered that gave rise to this search warrant."

Juillerat said the animals will be examined today at the Humane Society. He described what he saw Tuesday as "horrible" living conditions and said he's never seen cruelty to this degree in Fort Pierce.

"This is a national problem," he said. "I mean, we have puppy mills, and this looks like a breeding operation with a lot of males and females all looked to be intact, so it's a breeding operation.

"With the numbers of animals that are killed every single year all across our country, the state of Florida alone, millions of animals a year are euthanized."

Case Updates

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