From England to Finland: Massive DogFighting Ring Busted

Great news from England and Europe—one of the largest dog-fighting syndicates has been busted and three people involved have gone on trial for their crimes. Two others await trial, and those involved range from 17 years old to 44.  And here’s a first, a woman, the oldest of the group, was also charged along with her husband.   She declares herself innocent.

A BBC investigative reporter uncovered the ring, and connected it to a Northern Ireland gang with paramilitary connections. Illegal American pit bulls were supplied from there all the way to Finland. The scope of this malevolent practice is that vast—makes you stop and hold your breath for a moment doesn’t it? Here’s an excerpt:

“In a video of the BBC programme Inside Out, the undercover reporter who investigated the dog-fighting ring can be seen chatting to 38-year-old Adamson[one of those charged], as he brags about his three pit bull dogs.

The reporter met Adamson after he started drinking with the Farmers Boys, a dog-fighting syndicate based in a small town called Tandragee, in County Armagh, Northern Ireland.

The reporter, Steve Ibinson, who has since died in Afghanistan, said: “He (Adamson) sees himself as the Don King of pit bulls. He was very relaxed in the company of the Farmers Boys, who made it clear that he was their guy in the North East of the UK. For the Farmers Boys he was part of one of the biggest dog-fighting syndicates in Europe.”

Ibinson went on to describe how a fight filmed in Finland had left some of the dogs involved so badly injured that they would have to be put down. He added: “The last dog in that incident was killed by putting on to its tail a crocodile clip and another one on to its ear and then connecting it to the main electrical system.”

Do you think England and Europe have a rewards program similar to that of the Humane Society of the United States? $5,000 is a lot of money anywhere, especially now, and it has produced solid busts.

I wonder if there’s any contact between agencies at the Country level, focused on helping each other improve the quality and rate of arrests of dog-fighting rings—even if it’s just an informal exchange of case reviews. If anyone has something to add in this regard, I would really like to hear about it.

For more, take a look at the rest of the article from the Birmingham Post, West Midlands News.