Dog Fighting Underground Animal Abuse

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Pages: 6

Dog Fighting: The Cruel Network of Underground Animal Abuse Imagine walking down an alley and finding a helpless dog, injured and left for dead. This is the situation that many dogs forced into dog fighting find themselves in. Dog fighting is considered a “blood sport”, where two or more dogs are pinned against each other and forced to fight, sometimes until one dog is dead. Spectators place bets on the dog expected to win, which is how these criminals make money. According to the ASPCA, “it is not unusual for $20,000 - $30,000 to change hands in a single fight” (A Closer Look). After a fight has concluded, the losing dog is generally disposed of whether it is still living, or not. As a result, strays who have been abandoned end up in shelters, …show more content…
Although having more trained animal cruelty officers and better animal care resources could help the issue of dog fighting, creating stricter laws on sentencing for dog fighting …show more content…
During a raid of a dog fighting situation, the dogs are often seized as evidence in the case. Therefore, the dogs, which are living creatures, have to be cared for while the investigation is ongoing. But, because there are a limited amount of animal care resources available, dog fighting continues to be a problem. The ASPCA says “Most prosecutors would be happy to take on every dog fight case they could, but they are limited by the human and animal care resources available to them” (A Closer Look). This shows that opening more animal resource locations could lead to more dog fighting cases being resolved. Additionally, organizing more resources would also help when a dog fight is not caught by the authorities. After a fight has concluded, many dogs are abandoned and become strays. This is a main reason that shelters in the area are so overcrowded, and are often forced to euthanize animals to create space. In Ohio, on average thirty percent of shelter dogs are euthanized (Beth). Dedicating safe places for dogs could help lower the amount of shelter dogs being euthanized. Having more rescue centers available would also keep stray dogs safe and prevent people who dog fight from having access to strays to use as bait dogs. Bait dogs are used to train the fighting dogs, and often are taken directly off of the street. There are a