Battersea Dogs & Cats Home condemns dog fighting in any form. We welcome the report from League Against Cruel Sports, which again shines a light into the cruel and brutal world of dog fighting. This practice has been illegal since 1835. However, dogs are still being trained by their owners to fight or placed in situations where they are forced to defend themselves.
Battersea regularly takes in dogs bearing the physical or mental scars of dog fighting. Traumatised animals with tell-tale bite marks, filed down teeth or evidence of having had mouths wired shut. In many cases these dogs are simply cast out when they fail to serve their purpose. Battersea is there to help them but for many of these dogs it’s sadly too late.
For a nation of animal lovers, it is deeply distressing that this practice continues today. It is even more concerning that the weak sentences available to the courts in cases of animal cruelty offer no deterrent. We have continually called on the Government to review sentencing for animal cruelty. England and Wales have the joint second-lowest maximum sentence in Europe. We believe that this Report from League Against Cruel Sports only strengthens the case for reform.
