DOG FIGHTS

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LX, Issue 16, 28 February 1939, Page 7

DOG FIGHTS

LATEST "SPORT" IN ENGLAND

SECRET CONTESTS IN GUARDEC

CELLARS

(From The Guardian's London Correspondent) j LONDON, February 4, The latest "sport" to be developed in Britain is dog-fighting. According to a report to be published soon, fights between dogs backed to tear each other to pieces are being regularly staged by groups of "sportsmen" in Britain. ' For 15 months a National Canine Defence League investigator, in secret, has been watching the development of the "sport" and the people who regularly attend to see it. The contests take place mostly in cellars guarded by scouts before crowds which sometimes include women. The publication of the report of the investigator, Mr R. H. Johns, will signal a drive to stamp the "sport" out. So secret have the "setts"—as the contests are called—been kept, that the police so far have been powerless to act. Certain towns in the Midlands provide the biggest following for the "sport" but fights have been staged within 20 miles of London. Mr John's dossier contains the names of the foremost promoters of the "sport" besides the names of dozens of breeders and backers. Most of them are of the fairly well-to-do sporting fraternity who stake large sums in wagers on the results of a I "sett." "Some of those who support this so-called sport are well known and respected personalities in their own localities," Mr Johns said this week, j A dog has no value in the eyes of breeders unless it has killed its opponent, even though it may have to be destroyed itself later because of its own injuries, he added. The dogs used are mostly specially-bred Staffordshire bull-terriers. They are kept hungry when due to fight.