Family pets are bought as bait for killer dogs
Charity struggling to curb practice
HUNDREDS of family pets are being unwittingly sold as live bait to teach dogs how to kill, an animal welfare charity has claimed.
Scottish SPCA investigators have revealed the practice has grown so much in the past two years that they are struggling to keep up.
Reports involving animal baiting and fighting have more than doubled to 721 since 2017.
The beloved domestic pets are being bought as training material to generate ‘bloodlust’ in dogs that are later used to fight badgers and foxes.
The figures emerged after a thug was jailed on October 2 for encouraging his three dogs to ‘tear apart’ family pets he had bought from unsuspecting owners on sales site Gumtree.
Mark Cuthbert, 42, was jailed for ten months at Ayr Sheriff Court after he pleaded guilty to keeping dogs, cats and a rat for animal fights, procuring cats for fights and arranging animal fights to take place.
The SSPCA said it was not known how many cats he bought, but he answered more than 40 adverts on Gumtree. Many of the cats were savaged and killed less than a day after Cuthbert got hold of them, despite his promises that he would look after them.
Mike Flynn, chief superintendent at the SSPCA, said: ‘To get terriers used to killing foxes and things, get them used to bloodlust, Cuthbert was getting a lot of animals from sites such as Gumtree. He was an incredibly sick individual.
‘For whatever reason, people had to rehome their cats and they were just looking for a good home.
‘He was turning up, saying, “Oh, it’s ginger like the one we lost a couple of years ago, we’ll love it and look after it”. Within 24 hours the cat was back at his house getting fed to terriers.’
Cuthbert’s case is just one example of the underground fighting scene that covers all of Scotland, said Mr Flynn.
It is understood some owners are travelling from England, Wales and Ireland to take part in huge dog-fighting sessions.
Before letting them fight, the dogs are often placed in cages with cats, rabbits or rats, which they are allowed to tear to pieces.
Mr Flynn said: ‘These dogs are very rarely seen in public. The owners don’t walk them through the parks and they rarely go to the vets because a vet would instantly know injuries through organised fighting.
‘I’ve seen photographs of dogs with half of their faces hanging off, from badger baiting for example.
‘The owners take photographs of it. It’s a pride thing and they want to show off how “game” their dog is.
‘It’s a huge status symbol. These people are just extremely depraved, sick individuals.’
He added that the SSPCA was getting reports of animals with injuries related to fights on a weekly basis across the country.