This week marked the 16th anniversary of Michael Vick's arrest, but he did not originate dogfighting; nor is dogfighting "a cultural thing." It began with the Romans hundreds of years ago and reached epidemic levels here in the United States before Vick was arrested.
1974: Dog Fighting: Illegal, Brutal, Growing https://www.nytimes.com/1974/08/15/archives/dog-fighting-illegal-brutal-growing-dog-fightinig-illegal-brutal.html
2000: Inside South Florida’s struggle against underground dog fighting https://padandpixel.com/inside-south-floridas-struggle-again-underground-dog-fighting/
2004: Dog fighting bust described as tip of iceberg https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5077428
2006: Dogfighting: Underground epidemic difficult to stop. Forty thousand in nation train canines in illegal blood sport. Police hampered by weak laws. https://www.mcall.com/2006/05/14/dogfighting-underground-epidemic-difficult-to-stop-forty-thousand-in-nation-train-canines-in-illegal-blood-sport-police-hampered-by-weak-laws/
2007: The Growth of Dogfighting https://richmond.com/news/the-growth-of-dogfighting/article_48f907cd-fb30-5a7b-bfe3-91eaef62b86e.html
2007: Battle Against Dogfighting Needs Bite https://richmond.com/news/battle-against-dogfighting-needs-bite/article_0fb72162-6768-505f-a2f7-c192515e3209.html
2007: Dogfighting a booming business, experts say https://www.cnn.com/2007/US/07/18/dog.fighting/
2007: Illegal Dogfighting Rings Thrive in U.S. Cities https://www.npr.org/2007/07/20/12104472/illegal-dogfighting-rings-thrive-in-u-s-cities
2008:
"It's a huge network, and they all breed and sell and fight," said Desiree Bender, the Arkansas director of the Humane Society of the United States... https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2008/jan/15/suspect-charged-dogfighting-20080115/
2009: South Florida dogfighting rages on despite tough laws https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/south-florida-dogfighting-rages-on-despite-tough-laws-6365936
2009:
"Humane Society statistics show that more than 250,000 dogs are wounded or die in dog fighting pits every year."
https://www.mlive.com/news/bay-city/2009/06/still_no_arrests_in_raid_on_al.html
2014: Dogfighting thriving underground, with big money at stake https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/11/22/fighting-dogfighting/19404109/
2014 Dogfighting: The illegal blood sport thrives from Ala. to NY, with 'absurd' amounts of money https://www.syracuse.com/news/2014/11/dogfighting_the_illegal_blood.html
2015: Dogfighting Alive and Well in St. Petersburg https://www.cltampa.com/news/dogfighting-alive-and-well-in-st-petersburg-12299422
2019: Recent bust highlights problem of dog fighting in Central Ohio https://abc6onyourside.com/news/local/dog-fighting-still-a-big-problem-in-central-ohio
2019 'A danger to society': Dog fighting deemed a pervasive issue in Chattanooga https://newschannel9.com/news/local/dog-fighting-deemed-a-pervasive-issue-in-chattanooga
2021: Dog Fighting is Thriving in U.S. - Hundreds of Pit Bulls Seized in 2021 https://www.citywatchla.com/animal-watch/21868-dog-fighting-is-thriving-in-u-s-hundreds-of-pit-bulls-seized-in-2021
Read the 1974 NYT article, and you'll see dogfighters have been killing cats for a long, long time.
Please let this update serve as a reminder that Best Friends, the ASPCA and the Humane Society of the United States know dogfighting is a multi-billion-dollar-per-year industry, know dogfighters kill cats and kittens and know dogfighters are everywhere:
“[It's] shocking, how dog fighting is everywhere,” says Ledy Van Kavage, senior legislative analyst at Best Friends Animal Society, where some of the Vick dogs remain housed in [Kanab], UT. “it occurs in even in the most unsuspecting places.” https://stevedalepetworld.com/blog/dog-fighting-is-pervasive-two-stories-are-even-more-shocking-more-disgusting-than-michael-vick/
...but they refuse to warn the millions of people rehoming pets because of inflation, COVID-related evictions and "allergies."
It is unconscionable that an organization that uses the slogan "Save Them All" continually chooses to turn a blind eye to the thousands of cats, kittens and dogs being tortured via Craigslist, Facebook "free pets" pages and Next Door, that an organization that calls itself the Humane Society of the United States would send defenseless dogs to dogfighters and that an organization that calls itself the American Society for the PREVENTION of Animals, which raked in $389,934,885 and paid its CEO $881,785 in 2021, would cite cost as a hindrance to starting an animal abuser registry. But corruption is running rampant in this country, and so-called animal advocates have all succumbed to greed and stupidity.
The greed began when Michael Vick paid Best Friends $389,000 to care for 22 of his dogs. You can imagine how much money Best Friends received in donations. On its 2021 tax returns, Best Friends posted a total revenue of $125,326,390. CEO Julie Castle gave herself a $129,000 raise while millions of people were laid off because businesses were closed due to COVID. Meanwhile, thousands upon thousands of cats, kittens and dogs are being tortured by dogfighters and other psychopaths, and Best Friends' experiment of putting dogfighters' dogs in neighborhoods isn't working out very well for neighboring pets.
You can find my National Dogfighter Registry here. You can find (and report) dogfighters on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and OnlyFans by searching for any of the following names/bloodlines: https://bogchis.tripod.com/stories.html.
Report them to HSUS for a $5,000 reward: 877-TIP-HSUS
or
report them to the FBI (or your local FBI office) to help ensure they get lengthy prison sentences. Dogfighting becomes a federal offense when dogfighters cross state lines to transport pitbulls or fight their dogs.
Most dogfighters are busted because of tips from the public or as a result of drug investigations. Your tip could help save a lot of lives.