ATLANTA — Law enforcement authorities arrested seven people over the weekend 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.
Several raids took place in Alabama, Arizona and South Carolina; the events' organizers also were charged with animal fighting. Robert Stewart, chief of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, said more arrests were 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, chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States. "I shake my head and am disgusted, but I am never entirely surprised."
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 Casey Couturier, editor of American Bulldog Review, began 25 years ago in states with large populations of wild boars -- like Texas, Louisiana and Florida -- and developed into an organized competition for hunting dogs.
In recent years, however, organizers became wary of public perception and stopped advertising openly, Couturier said. But the events still took place. "The people there would be the sheriff and the state police. They'd be running their own dogs," Couturier said.
Tanya Holland, who raises pit bulls in Florida, said that animal-rights activists had misrepresented the events.
The hogs, she said, are removed from the pen quickly and given time to recuperate before the next event; the powerful animals "do put up a fight" and squeal loudly, Holland said, but generally are not seriously injured.
"If you could see the energy in the dog and see how much they enjoy working," said Holland, 32, a veterinary technician. "I know how much my dogs like catching that pig for me."
But Ann Chynoweth, counsel for the Humane Society, said pigs or hogs often were left with serious injuries -- such as torn jaws, ears, or injured groins -- and were sent back into the ring repeatedly.
Organizers distribute videotapes of the events, sometimes with music playing in the background, and fill the seats with families and children.
