History of Dog Fighting

The history of the most brutal sport in American history

We are in the midst of a dog fighting epidemic in the United States and while it is now a felony in all 50 states most jurisdictions still don't take it seriously enough. While penalties have gotten stiffer recently law enforcement still doesn't go after the perpetrators as zealously as they should. In this series I hope to shed some light on the problem, offer solutions and give the reader information they can use to identify dog fighting operations so we can lock these losers away and end the suffering of the innocent victims. The victims of course being the dogs forced in to fighting by their owners. The Humane Society of the United States estimates there are about 40,000 dog fighters in the United States, but is probably much higher because of the street fighting that goes on in the urban areas of all major cities. In 2003 alone Chicago had an estimated 1093 complaints of animals fighting. Move to 2016 and that number has probably doubled if not tripled. So this is what we're up against and there is something each and everyone of us can do which we will get into greater detail later. Right now let's start with the beginning and move forward.

Let's go back in time to 43 AD which is the first record we have of dogs being used in battle. This was during the Roman Empire and the battle for Great Britain although it wasn't known by that name then. The Romans used dogs known as Molossus originating in Greece and the British used what were called broad mouth Mastiff's believed to have been bred also from the Molossus. Although the Romans won the war they were so impressed with the English Mastiffs that they took them back to Rome to fight in the coliseum and also as war dogs. With the Coliseum full of spectators the Mastiffs were put up against , elephants, lions, bulls, bears and even gladiators. The Romans began breeding and importing dogs to Spain, Europe and eventually they found their way back to England

In 12th century England they found their way into the British aristocracy. At this time bull and bear baiting became more prevalent there then any where else in the world. During the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603) (The daughter of King HenryVIII and Anne Boleyn) an avid fan of bull & bear baiting she bred them using bull baiting as entertainment for visiting dignitaries. Depending on who you believe they were brought to the US sometime between 1817-1865 and although there are records of some type of dog fighting all the way back to the 1750's dog fighting didn't become widely popular until after the civil war in 1865. It became so popular that the Mississippi and Ohio railroads offered special fares to a dog fight in Lousiville, KY in 1881. Most of the fighting dogs came from England and Ireland where bull and bear baiting had become illegal.

Move to the 20th century and although laws against it were becoming more prevalent dog fighting continued to flourish. Believe it or not it was given a big boost from police and fire fighters who found it to be a great form of entertainment. The industry newspaper The Police Gazette was even used to advertise times , places and dates of dog fights. Henry Bergh the founder of the ASPCA witnessed the participation of law enforcement in this illegal activity so he sought and obtained police powers for the ASPCA Humane Law Enforcement Agents so they could arrest the bad guys and in 1867 Bergh's revision to New York's animal cruelty laws made any form of animal fighting illegal. The law enforcement arm of the ASPCA has since been discontinued and turned over to the police but with the laws they helped to create the larger organizations such as the United Kennel club who sanctioned fights made the rules and certified referees outlawed the practice in their club. On July 8, 2009 the ASPCA was involved in what was at that time one of the largest dog fighting busts in the history of the US which covered 8 states, made 26 arrests of which 2 defendants received 10 year sentences (Which at that time was a huge sentence for the crime) and rescued 400 dogs mostly of course Pit Bulls.

Move forward to the present and dog fighting is more prevalent then ever. Dog fighting even though it is in my opinion one of the most heinous crimes we deal with today it is usually only one of the crimes charged during a raid. Add to it drug offenses, gambling, illegal weapons and in 48 states being a spectator. Not to mention child endangerment because these kids are brought up in this culture watching and participating in these horrendous fights . They have to watch and participate in the torture and killing of innocent animals. So they grow up lacking empathy for life itself. There are cases of 9 and 10 year olds staging street fights for their dogs. So it is imperative that we as a nation finally stand up and say enough is enough and finally end this scourge upon our society