Law enforcement authorities have arrested seven people in three states on animal cruelty charges stemming from “hog dogging” events, in which pit bulls or bulldogs are placed in a pen with pigs or wild boars and are timed as they pin the squealing animals with their powerful jaws, the Los Angeles Times reports. Raids took place in Alabama, Arizona, and South Carolina. More arrests are expected.
“It’s bad enough to put animals of the same species against one another. Now we’re staging events with different species in combat,” said Wayne Pacelle of the Humane Society of the United States. In hog dog rodeo – also known as “hog catch trials,” “hog dog trials” or “hog baiting” – a feral pig or hog is thrust into a pen. A dog then chases the hog until it forces the animal to the ground. The practice, said editor Casey Couturier of American Bulldog Review, began 25 years ago in states with large populations of wild boars and developed into an organized competition for hunting dogs.