190 dogs rescued from LeShon Johnson’s dogfighting ring
Once upon a time, Oklahoma high school football star LeShon Johnson was in the running for the 1993 Heisman Trophy as an All-American and the nation’s top college running back at Northern Illinois University. He lost that one, but today, Johnson is still a record holder: He’s the biggest loser in the history of dogfighting arrests.
In late March, Johnson was charged with 21 counts related to dogfighting in what federal authorities are saying is the most dogs ever rescued from a single person — 190 dogs in total — when his Oklahoma-based dogfighting operation was busted in October 2024. He faces a maximum penalty on each count of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. As for the 190 dogs seized from his properties? According to BADRAP, the dogs are currently being cared for at a facility run by a dog training group contracted by the federal government and will later be transferred to rescue groups as appropriate.
It’s obvious to anyone with even a shred of a moral compass that dogfighting is a horrific, abusive, and flat-out wrong practice. It’s also completely illegal under federal law. Specifically, it’s illegal to possess, train, transport, deliver, sell, purchase, or receive dogs for dogfighting purposes, as well as to fight dogs in a venture that affects interstate commerce. Johnson, in addition to housing the 190 now-seized dogs in Oklahoma, bred and sold dogs all across the country for the cruel blood sport.
Johnson and the dogfighting underworld subscribe to the macho culture fantasy that dogs can be selectively bred for aggression. That fiction was demonstrably debunked with the highly publicized rehabilitation of the dogs rescued from Michael Vick’s Bad Newz Kennels in 2007. Back then, the default procedure, which was supported by some of the largest animal welfare organizations of the time, was to kill all dogs seized from fighting operations. They were assumed to be fighters by nature — that assumption still continuing to stigmatize pit bull terrier-like dogs today. Because of this “bad by birth” stigma that dogs forced to participate in fight rings carried, the nearly 50 dogs seized from Vick’s operation were slated to be killed.
Best Friends opposed this policy, knowing that regardless of assumptions, dogs seized in dogfighting busts are fundamentally victims. We filed an amicus brief with the presiding federal court, advocating for the behavioral evaluation of each dog as an individual, to which — in a massive win for the underdog — the judge agreed. Forty-eight of the dogs from Bad Newz Kennels were deemed safe to place in the community and sent to rescue and rehabilitation organizations to start their roads to recovery. The 22 dogs with the most challenging behaviors came to join us at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary here in Kanab, Utah.
Those dogs came to be known as the Vicktory Dogs. They showed very clearly that any dog can be a loving dog if shown love. There wasn’t a “killing machine,” as many called them, among the group. They each had personality quirks, a heart and soul, and proved that every dog is an individual. Some suffered from babesia, a bloodborne parasite endemic to dogs used for fighting, but all went on to live fulfilling lives as pets, breed ambassadors, therapy dogs, or office buddies.
The victims — or perhaps, more aptly, the survivors — of dogfighting rings deserve a chance to live a life just like any other dog. They deserve to know the feeling of curling up in a warm bed, receiving a loving pat from their favorite person, and experiencing the sights and smells of their neighborhood walk. We know that these dogs can be successfully rehabilitated and live long, happy lives full of love, safety, and comfort.
I’m grateful to the federal authorities who uncovered and acted on this depraved operation run by LeShon Johnson and wish nothing but blue skies ahead for the 190 rescued dogs.
-Julie
