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touchline feature
34 | Touchline issue 23 | April 2016
H
is face is a mass of deep cuts, as are his shoulders
and neck. Both of his front legs have been broken,
but Billy Bear isn’t ready to quit. At the referee’s
signal, his master releases him, and unable to
support himself on his front legs, he slides on his
chest across the blood and urine stained carpet,
propelled by his good hind legs, toward the opponent who
rushes to meet him. Driven by instinct, intensive training
and love for the owner who has brought him to this
moment, Billy Bear drives himself painfully into the other
dog’s charge... Less than 20 minutes later, rendered useless
by the other dog, Billy Bear lies spent beside his master,
his stomach constricted with pain. He turns his head back
toward the ring, his eyes glazed (sic) searching for a last
look at the other dog as (sic) receives a bullet in his brain.
-C.M. Brown, Pit, Atlanta Magazine, 1982, at 66.
Dog fighting is not a sport; it is exploitation and carnage at its
worst. But this industry is worth billions of dollars annually
and is spread around the globe. Once considered a perfectly
reasonable form of entertainment, it is now illegal in most
countries.
Dog fighting has been around at least since the Romans. Upon
invading Britain, the Romans were impressed by the war dogs
put in the field by the early Britons. They were soon imported
and bred with the native Roman dogs and were introduced into
the circus for gladiatorial contests.
In the medieval period, dogs were used in the baiting of bears
and bulls. In this incarnation, several dogs were hurled at a bear
or bull that was chained down to even the odds. The dogs would
scratch and maul the larger animal, though many were killed or
ferociously maimed when the bear managed to connect with
them. Many of the breeds we now associate with fighting came
about at this time, such as the bulldog.
It was not until the 1850s that the British government saw the
cruelty that this sport encouraged, and it was subsequently
banned. This move, however righteous, gave rise to dog fighting as
we know it. Blood-thirsty crowds were just as happy to watch two
dogs slowly murdering each as they were to see them fight a bear.
Dog fighting spread to the US after the Civil War, and it was here
that the crossbreeding of several types of dog created the pitbull.
Today, while dog fighting is illegal, it is sickeningly common.
It is publicly enjoyed in many parts of Asia, recently making a
resurgence in Afghanistan. The Italian mafia makes millions
of dollars annually by organising fights, as does its Russian
counterpart. It is estimated that there is dog fighting in every
one of the 50 US states. The Humane Society claims that there
are as many as 40,000 people involved in the industry in the US
alone.
For the dogs, their lives are short, brutal and miserable. They
are trained from puppyhood how to kill and are purposely
maltreated. In Italy, the puppies are placed in a sack and then
beaten. Once released, a kitten is placed in front of the sack, and
the enraged dog then takes out their pain on the tiny animal.
They are thus introduced to their hideous lives.
Training is equally appalling. They are placed on treadmills
for hours at time, and whipped if they don’t walk. They are
chained to a device called a catmill, where they have to run in
circles, chasing bait. They are usually fed the bait as a reward.
Often, during these aerobic exercises they have heavy weights
attached to their shoulders and necks to build up strength.
Even when they are not being tortured during training, their
lives are miserable. They are leashed with short, heavy chains
for hours at a time. Their ears and tails are sometimes cut off
to stream-line the dog. In some cases, their vocal chords are cut
because a barking dog may draw attention during one of the
illegal fights.
As brutal as their training seems, it is nothing compared to the
fights themselves. In urban areas, these fights will be conducted
in a small, restricted pen, while in the country, it might be held
in a barn. The two dogs, pumped with anabolic steroids and
wound up into a demented fury, are unleashed and erupt into
violence.
These fights are not short. On average, it takes an hour for one
of them to be deemed the winner. Their owners purposely train
them to make the fight as long as possible for the spectacle. The
rules also enable them to protract the pain.
INSIDE THE
HEINOUS
WORLD OF
ILLEGAL DOG FIGHTING
Warning:
this article contains material of a graphic and disturbing nature