Tell Facebook to Remove Pro-Dogfighting Page

How We Won

Oct 13, 2010

After leaving a "Legalize Dog Fighting" fan page up for days, despite numerous abuse reports, Facebook finally took it down within a day of Change.org community members telling the company not to condone dog fighting. More than 450 people sent the message that animal abuse cannot be tolerated, and must be taken as seriously as other violent crimes.

On October 13, word started circulating among animal welfare advocates that there was a Facebook page called Legalize Dog Fighting.

There's not much on the page, except for a photo of a chained pit bull and this description:

"Legalize dog fighting. Pets are not people. They are your pet. Something you own. If i'm not mistaken, when you own something you can do what you want with it."

The page's creator is, in fact, mistaken. Although pets are largely considered property in the eyes of the law, there are cruelty laws in every state (and many other countries) that recognize the difference between harming a dog and harming an inanimate object. Dog fighting is a felony across all fifty states.

While this page does not depict images of animal abuse, by encouraging people to do whatever they want with their pets, including subjecting them to the cruelty of dog fighting, it does incite violence and encourages violation of the law, which is against Facebook's terms of service.

Facebook would promptly remove pages that advocated for the "right" to abuse people, and they should take this page just as seriously. The link between animal cruelty and other violent crimes is well-documented. 

The ASPCA encourages people to report online cruelty, because it's often an indication of real crimes. Countless people have reported the page, but Facebook hasn't taken it down.

Send an email below, telling Facebook to take animal abuse seriously.

Then go to the pro-dogfighting page and click "Report" in the lower lefthand corner.

Photo credit: Photos8.com

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