Animal Fighting: The Final Round


The Final Round campaign exposes animal fighting (whether with dogs or gamecocks), helps law enforcement personnel combat it, strengthens laws against it, and assists citizens who want to rid their communities of it.

In recent years we have seen an increase in animal fighting, both in urban settings and in rural areas. To combat this trend, The UARW provides educational materials to assist people who want to eliminate animal fighting in their community and who want to strengthen laws against this cruel form of entertainment. Citizen letters remain the single most effective tool for change, so we provide both background information and sample letters for use.

You may have some ideas of your own. If they are successful, please share them with us. By using our informational materials and your own creativity, you can foster public awareness in your community about the brutality and danger involved in animal fighting.


The Humane Society of the United States offers a reward of up to $2,500 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any person who organizes, participates in, promotes, or officiates at cockfights or dogfights.


Cockfighting Fact Sheet

Cockfighting is a centuries-old bloodsport in which two or more specially bred roosters are placed in a pit to fight. It is illegal in 47 states, and it should be illegal in all of them. more

DoD Appropriations Bill Gives Polar Bears a Reprieve, Goes Easy on Cockfighters Who Could Help Spread Avian Flu

Conference committee members drafting the final Defense appropriations bill not only omitted language to toughen animal fighting laws, but also included language to allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Tell the Senate to reject this final bill. more

Dog Eat Dog: The Bloodthirsty Underworld of Dogfighting

Dogfighting continues to plague cities despite the fact that the blood sport is illegal in all 50 states. You may know how dogfighting affects your community, but find out how the vicious activity destroys, sometimes literally, the animals forced to fight in the pit. more

Dogfighting Fact Sheet

Dogfighting is a felony in 48 states. Learn the reasons why this cruel bloodsport should be a felony in all states. more

Handling Fighting Dogs in Animal Shelters

Animal shelters that house victims of animal fighting face unique problems. These articles from Animal Sheltering magazine can help. more

Hog Dog Fighting: Bloodsport Packaged as Family Entertainment

Billed as family entertainment in several states, hog dog fights are actually a horrifying spectacle that leaves once feral hogs bloody and maimed. more

Jay-Z and Other Artists Need to Step Up Against Dogfighting

Jay-Z's video, "99 Problems," is the latest beat in an extended hip-hop mix of disdain toward canines. We need to hear from those rappers who despise dogfighting. more

Recent Activities

The UARW is actively involved in stopping animal fighting, from training law enforcement officers to responding to raids at animal fighting operations. Read about our recent efforts here. more

Sample Letter to Law Enforcement Agencies

Use this letter to alert your local educators and neighborhood watch groups about animal fighting (dogfighting or cockfighting) going on in your community. more

Sample Letter to Prosecutors and Judges

Use this letter to alert prosecutors and judges about animal fighting (dogfighting or cockfighting) going on in your community. more

The Michael Vick Case and Ending Animal Fighting: The Facts

FAQs about Ending Animal Fighting and Michael Vick more

Video for Law Enforcement Agencies: "Pit Bull Fighting—What Every Cop Should Know"

Law enforcement officers: Get a free training video about investigating dogfighting. more

Tio Hardiman

By Tio Hardiman

In the neighborhoods of Chicago where I work, it's said that as many as four out of five children have witnessed a dogfight. I don't mean the kind where two dogs on leashes tussle over territory, or where strays mix it up for food scraps. I mean the all-out, fight-to-the-death staged dogfight between animals bred for just this purpose—the kind of horrifying bloodletting that now infests poor and troubled parts of our cities.

This is no sight for anyone to witness, let alone children. Dogs are our friends. So what are we teaching them when they see friends transformed into fiends—sacrificed in the shadowy criminal underground of drugs, gambling, gang life and impossible savagery?

We must stop it. Right now. For the sake of our children, for the sake of our cities, and to end the cruelty we're inflicting on these most trusting of animals, we must stop dogfighting.

With The Humane Society of the United States, that's what I'm trying to do. Dogfighting is a crime. More than that, it's a curse.

It occurs in back alleys, in abandoned houses, or downstairs in dirty basements. The medieval howls of suffering dogs echo sadly through neighborhoods that already know too much about pain. Every time two young men clash in mortal combat by using dogs as proxies, a pall is cast over our communities.

The causes of the dogfighting phenomenon are complex: the same violent brew of machismo, idleness and alienation that gives rise to gangs leads young men to the doorsteps of dog breeders.
© The UARW
Each of us can help end dogfighting.

In fact, for many small-time drug dealers, owning a pit bull is now requisite for guarding their stash. As a result, law enforcement officials are increasingly targeting dogfighting in order to bust narcotics rings, knowing that where one exists, the other often follows. A three-year study by the Chicago Police Department revealed that of those who are arrested for animal crimes—including dogfighting—70 percent have prior narcotics arrests.

What can the rest of us do? Well, we can start with the belief that the urban violence of dogfighting is more than a criminal activity. It is an epidemic, not unlike a disease that spreads and takes hold in vulnerable neighborhoods. Thus, it cannot be stopped by enforcement alone. The UARW believes that we must change cultural attitudes too.

In Chicago, we're deploying "violence interrupters"—established community members who understand the forces that draw young men into the dogfighting subculture and can act as mentors.

The effort is closely modeled after successful programs used in cities nationwide to challenge gang violence. One block at a time, "interrupters" take to the streets to break up dogfighting encounters. One person at a time, they challenge ingrained social perceptions.

We engaged the University of Chicago Survey Lab to interview former dogfighters and conduct focus groups of young children to help the rest of us understand the appeal of fighting dogs. We are seeking those cultural messages that might stigmatize—rather than glamorize—dogfighting.

At the same time, we appeal to cultural and community leaders to join us. We need athletes, musicians, actors, neighbors, peer-group leaders, mothers, fathers, preachers, teachers—in fact we need all of you. We need you to spread the message. Dogfighting is horrifying, disrespectful and debasing. It doesn't just harm animals—dogfighting degrades people, too. Please help us end this cruelty.

Tio Hardiman is working with The Humane Society of the United States in developing a violence interrupter program to penetrate neighborhoods most prone to dogfighting and change the behavior of those who engage in the crime. He is director of mediation services and intergovernmental affairs for The Chicago Project for Violence Prevention (CeaseFire), a nationally recognized group that has successfully reduced gang violence in the city.

Animal Rescue Group USA. Washington, Bellevue



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