Save Me from Myself

"There's blood everywhere in this house, on the floor, the walls. We have walls in the basement coated with smeared blood, which is an indication the dogs were fighting in the basement. We have dog-fighting magazines, dog-fighting paperwork inside the address. We have a treadmill specifically designed for dogs to condition on. All things found in dog-fighting houses. Shows you what a vicious crime this is."

This is how Mark Langan, a Nebraska Humane Society Officer, described a house suspected of dog-fighting in an interview with ketv.com news in June of 2006.

Dog-fighting is speculated to have "been around since the domestication of the species," according to Answers.com. This "sport" spans the entire globe as a pastime, both legally and illegally depending on the country.

Places like Afghanistan and Japan still allow dog-fighting in some cities. Other places, such as North America, have outlawed dog-fighting. Dog-fighting is illegal in all 50 of states in the U.S. Not only is it illegal, but in all states except two, Wyoming and Idaho, it is also a felony offense. In some states even watching a dog-fighting event is considered a felony.

"There has been a big push this last year for Wyoming, but the session ended before the bill could get through, next year we're making a bigger push in Idaho," John Goodwin, the deputy manager of animal fighting issues at the Humane Society of the United States, says.

Legality issues, it seems, have done nothing to curb the appeal that this "sport" has to some in the U.S. Because dog-fighting is mostly an underground "sport" it has been extremely difficult for authorities to end.

"A lot of people will go to places without and active animal control," Dave Points, an employee of the Nebraska Humane Society, says, "Let's say you were a drug dealer, if you were in a county with a proactive sheriff's unit, you might do it two counties over."