Howling in the woods: dogfighting in Pakistan

Summoned closer by the howling of dogs and the beat of drums, a large crowd gathers near a stream in Haripur in Pakistan’s northern mountains. Some 2,000 men are braving harsh Himalayan winds to cheer on their pets in what has become a regular winter fixture in the town: dogfighting. The more the muscular animals soak each other in blood, the higher the excitement among the spectators. “I love it ... it is fun,” says Naveed Ahmed, a 23-year-old tailor who came to watch with friends. The dogs’ blood stains the open yard where the men sit in a circle, watching anxiously to see which will win the day’s main battle.   The animals’ growling, and the spectators’ cheering and clapping echo throughout the wooded valley. The fight ends when a dog dies, abandons the battle, or an owner withdraws his pet because the animal is too injured to continue. No one seems to know when the sport started in this region but it is now considered part of rural culture, with dogfights organized across Pakistan in the winter months from January to March.       Noor Ahmed, 45, and his cousins from the province of Punjab, hundreds of miles from Haripur, have entered 2-year-old Shola in the competition. The grey bulldog is one of four pets Ahmed has in his hometown. “I’m fond of dogs,” he says as the announcer calls Shola’s name on the loudspeaker. “I bring my Shola here for pride. If he wins, I’ll be happy.” Raising a fighting dog takes a lot of money and energy, Ahmed says. “I feed my dog with milk, meat, nuts and yogurt,” he says. “And I give him a massage with olive oil every day, and take him out for running and exercise.” Ahmed says he spends up to Rs40,000 ($380) a month on each dog, almost enough to sustain an average family in rural Pakistan. Shola, a muscular canine, has fought twice in Punjab and won on both occasions. But he meets his match in Dora, a male bulldog-bull terrier half a year older than Shola. Dora overpowered his younger rival after half an hour of intense fighting. Dora’s owner, 55-year-old Amjad Khan, comes from Kashmir. “I’m proud that my dog has won another fight, his ninth in total,” he says. Dora is left with skin wounds - which were washed with antiseptic solution in the nearby river - but no major injuries. “It hurts me. I raise my dog like my kid and when he gets injured, it really saddens me,” Khan says. “Once my Dora was badly bruised in a fight in Murree near Islamabad and I didn’t eat anything for three days.” Shola survived the fight and was not badly injured despite losing. Deaths are rare but injuries, mostly skin wounds, are a certainty in every clash, says doctor Akmal Rana, a vet based in the capital Islamabad. “Sometimes dogs are so bruised that it takes them months to recover,” says Rana, who has been treating pets injured in fights for 30 years.       Dogfights are illegal in Pakistan, and punishable by a maximum six-month sentence under animal cruelty laws, but this does not deter the crowds. An organiser of the Hariput fight says the spectators’ passion and lively betting keeps them coming back. “It is the involvement of money that makes it so popular,” he says, introducing himself with only his family name Shah. For animal rights activists, the fights reflect an underlying neglect of animal welfare in Pakistani society. Home Four Paw and Claw, a dog shelter in the southern city of Karachi, supervises the rescue of injured animals from the dogfights as well as other strays. “It is extremely depressing,” says Mustafa Ahmed from the shelter.  Police are reluctant to heed calls to stop the fights. “This has been going on for generations,” says Haripur police chief Khurram Rashid. “It is a sport and a cultural festival. We know it is illegal but have never arrested anybody.” Asad Rajput, a lawyer in the capital Islamabad, says the British-era animal cruelty law needed to be strengthened. “It is not enough at all,” he says. “In 25 years, I have never seen anybody coming to court on charges of animal cruelty.” Back in Haripur, just before the day’s final fight, organizer Shah announces the schedule for upcoming events. There will be more fights in Haripur, as well as in the nearby district of Abbottabad, he says.