Drugs and money bet on dog fights

The Bay of Plenty has been labelled the new 'hot-bed" of dog fighting. Daily Post reporter REBECCA DEVINE talks to SPCA inspector Jim Boyd about what really goes on.

It's a sadistic activity which occurs in a brutish den full of illegal activities and animal cruelty.

Now the underground world of dog fighting, and the criminal activity that allegedly runs hand in hand with it, has come to the surface after a major Central North Island dog fighting ring was cracked this week.

Dogs, if you believe the cliche, are meant to be man's best friend. But animal advocates believe more than 1000 people in the Bay are involved with dog fighting.

SPCA inspector Jim Boyd, who led this week's raid, says while it sounds like something out of primitive times, it's real.

It's happening in our backyard and it has to be stopped, he says.

He hopes the latest crackdown on the alleged kingpin's house in Kaingaroa will help rid the area of its latest unsavoury title - the new "hot-bed" of dog fighting.

For those who breed and keep the fighting dogs, a lot rests on each fight. Several thousand dollars can be bet on dogs, which are worth a similar amount. Drugs are also regularly bet.

The fights are so serious, so secret, that men with firearms often guard the doors to the venue.

Boyd concedes it sounds like something out of the movies - a far fetched tale of just how inhuman people can be. But he's adamant he's not exaggerating.

He has read detailed reports of some fights where maimed and bloodied dogs crawl across the fighting pit to try to get one last bite. He's seen the videos.

Some dogs are left horribly mutilated for life. But they often fight again.

"The most prized fighting dog is the game dog ... the gutsy one that will try to fight in spite of serious injuries."

Others, arguably the lucky ones, die in the fights - saving themselves from a life of misery.

Tracking where and when the fights will happen is difficult. They take place in remote areas - rarely in the same place twice.

Spectators are normally taken to the fights in vans and are "strictly vetted" before they're allowed to attend. It isn't uncommon to travel quite some distance for fights and not know exactly where one is going.

Boyd says while there is considerable gang involvement, the profile of a dog fight enthusiast isn't strictly limited to the sort of people one might think.

"It can involve business people bent towards bloodsports."

Popular locations for fights include abandoned sheds or old warehouses. There have even been cases of the local country community hall being hired out for fights.

One video, believed to have been taken in the Bay of Plenty area, shows dogs fighting in an old cow shed.

Gone are the days when a pit is dug for the dogs to fight in. The facilities these days are mobile - easy to assemble, quick to pack up and most importantly, unable to be traced.

Most fights take place in a small area of about 3m by 3m by 3m, known as a "square circle". One side is usually a block wall. The others are wooden hoardings just under a metre high.

A floor of carpet is normally rolled down to help provide traction and grip while the dogs are fighting. It rolls up easily and is a quick way to dispose of the bloodied evidence.

"The dogs shed a lot of blood in these things," says Boyd.

Training devices are used to get the dogs fighting. They include weights that can be put around a dog's neck and treadmills on which to exercise the animals. "Break sticks", used to prise dogs apart when their jaws are locked together, and hides for training dogs are also common place.

"Dogs are renowned as man's best friend. This [fighting] is not what they are all about. Man is manipulating their instincts."

Boyd, who is based in Northland, travels around the country to carry out raids on alleged dog fighting rings and then prosecute those involved.

"This is 2005. I believe we are more enlightened than going along with bloodsports."

Boyd is disgusted his job is necessary and admits it can often be hard, but says the aim is to focus on the job while he is executing warrants.

"[In the Kaingaroa case] once it was over I felt a sense of satisfaction. It went off like a piece of well oiled machinery and we gained a lot of evidence." It also brings Boyd a step closer to one of his missions in life - stamping out dog fighting once and for all.