AN organised underground dog-fighting ring is operating in Port Stephens, with thousands gambled on fights every few months.
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A Newcastle Herald investigation can reveal the highly organised group has held meetings in bushland at Oyster Cove and near Anna Bay.
Up to 50 people attend the fights, where large sums of money are bet on up to a dozen fights.
Purpose-built shortened temporary fencing is used as the fighting ring and generators power lights at remote bush locations.
A participant told the Herald the group used ‘‘spotters’’ with radios to alert if anyone was approaching the area.
‘‘There is talk about what is a fair fight before it starts and sometimes it might be two dogs fighting against one or one-on-one,’’ the person said.
‘‘Most of the time they will break it up with a whip or a big stick, but I have seen dogs fight to the death.’’
RSPCA chief inspector David O’Shannessy said people involved in dog fighting were ‘‘highly organised’’ and ‘‘breed dogs to achieve an outcome’’.
He said misinformation and fears that spread on social media about pet dogs being stolen to be used as bait made investigations extremely difficult.
‘‘We think it’s heavily organised and controlled with a serious criminal element being involved,’’ he said.
‘‘Gambling plays a large part and the dogs involved are bred to fight.’’
In NSW, it is an offence for a venue to be used for dog fighting, to organise a dogfight, to advertise and to attend or bet on the outcome of a dogfight.
Mr O’Shannessy said even after the discovery of injured dogs, it was difficult to conclusively prove illegal dog fighting was involved.
‘‘We’re certainly not naive enough to think this is not going on but because of the organised and controlled nature of these activities, we are heavily reliant on someone providing us with information,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s something that is of great interest to us and if we were to receive credible information, we would obviously act.’’
The insider said you had to know someone in the group to attend, but it was mainly regulars who had been involved for years.
Dogs used ranged from rottweilers to mastiffs, pit bulls and cross breeds.
‘‘There is no way anyone would just chuck some random dog in the ring because they won’t win,’’ he said. ‘‘Big money changes hands and the dogs belong to the people who bring them. There is a fair gap between meetings because the dogs need to be given time to recover and they obviously aren’t taken to the vet.’’
Society of Companion Animal Rescuers, or SoCares, president Sue Barker said the only way to break dog-fighting rings was through undercover operations.
‘‘We are talking here about not very nice people and there is a great deal of fear about informing on them,’’ she said.
The first successful NSW prosecution for operating a dog-fighting ring was in 2000, with a Sydney man jailed for eight months.
He converted a room in his western Sydney home into a dog-fighting ring and his pit bull terriers had to be destroyed because they could not be rehabilitated after being trained for fighting.
Do you know more? Email dpage@theherald.com.au
