Dog fighting is as secretive as it is barbaric. The people behind the illegal bloodsport carefully conceal their identities, fearful of arrest and prosecution. However, one dog fighter's IT mix-up led an undercover BBC investigation to unmask some of those involved in 'one of Europe's largest dog fighting networks.' The BBC has tracked fighting kennels to unlikely places in the UK – from a busy housing estate to the grounds of a stately home.
A simple mis-click from one member of a top-secret online dog fighting forum exposed the brutal reality of today's dog fighting. The leak revealed graphic match reports documenting fight after fight, injured animal after injured animal. A vast haul of intelligence was quickly harvested by the animal welfare charities, the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) and the Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (USPCA). That was the first glimpse of a highly secretive international dog fighting syndicate - one which the BBC has spent the past six months investigating and exposing.
I can't really put into words actually, it was just golden, said Russ Middleton, a former police officer turned Head of Intelligence for LACS. The law across the UK bans not only fighting, but also owning fighting dogs, training them to fight, trading animals and even filming fights without good reason.
The investigation found several UK-based dog fighting kennels, hiding in unlikely places, including one in a busy housing estate and another in the grounds of a famous stately home, Shane's Castle. The BBC identified David Patterson, the owner of Boneyard Kennels, and traced approximately 40 fighting dogs to his operation.
As the investigation deepened, BBC journalists posed as potential buyers, managing to infiltrate the dog-fighting community and ultimately revealing the operations of major players across Europe. The findings underscore how widespread and insidious the practice of dog fighting remains in the UK and abroad. Despite efforts from organizations dedicated to stopping such barbaric behavior, the number of reported cases continues to grow, indicating that much more remains to be done.
A simple mis-click from one member of a top-secret online dog fighting forum exposed the brutal reality of today's dog fighting. The leak revealed graphic match reports documenting fight after fight, injured animal after injured animal. A vast haul of intelligence was quickly harvested by the animal welfare charities, the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) and the Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (USPCA). That was the first glimpse of a highly secretive international dog fighting syndicate - one which the BBC has spent the past six months investigating and exposing.
I can't really put into words actually, it was just golden, said Russ Middleton, a former police officer turned Head of Intelligence for LACS. The law across the UK bans not only fighting, but also owning fighting dogs, training them to fight, trading animals and even filming fights without good reason.
The investigation found several UK-based dog fighting kennels, hiding in unlikely places, including one in a busy housing estate and another in the grounds of a famous stately home, Shane's Castle. The BBC identified David Patterson, the owner of Boneyard Kennels, and traced approximately 40 fighting dogs to his operation.
As the investigation deepened, BBC journalists posed as potential buyers, managing to infiltrate the dog-fighting community and ultimately revealing the operations of major players across Europe. The findings underscore how widespread and insidious the practice of dog fighting remains in the UK and abroad. Despite efforts from organizations dedicated to stopping such barbaric behavior, the number of reported cases continues to grow, indicating that much more remains to be done.
