Police in South Korea have launched an investigation into betting on dog fights after video clips of the fights on a gambling Web site sparked a public outcry.
The National Police Agency received 60 Internet petitions demanding action, according to news reports.
“Dogfighting is a crime of cruelly mistreating animals for entertainment. Training the canines to boost their aggressiveness is also a serious abuse,” one said.
The Web site, which reportedly had been posting five to eight clips of the fights every day, has been shut down, but not before it had acquired some 260 members and was busily engaged in providing fighting and betting rules along with information on the animals, including their performances in previous bouts.
The site was operated out of Japan, police said, and the fights are believed to have been in held in Japan or China, which they said was making it difficult to secure evidence.
Harming animals for gambling or entertainment is illegal in South Korea and carries a penalty of a year’s imprisonment or a fine of 10 million won.
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