6 Korean nationals held over dog fight; 227 pitbulls rescued

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna, Philippines —Authorities charged six Korean nationals with cruelty against animals and illegal gambling for operating an underground dog fight club.

Police said that in the fight club, pitbulls were pitted against each other in a fight lasting 3-5 minutes while patrons placed bets worth hundreds of thousands to a million Korean won.  The fights were being streamed live on the Internet.

Senior Supt. John Bulalacao, Cavite police director, said the Koreans’ identities and tourist visas were being investigated by the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation after their arrest in a raid during an ongoing dog fight in a clandestine arena in Barangay Mahabang Kahoy in Indang, Cavite on December 3.

They were identified as Kim Jeong Py, 40; Kim Su Jeong, 27; Kim Sang Syun, 28; Kang Jun Ho, 28; Lee Han Gu, 33; and Kim Min, 31.

During the raid, authorities were able to rescue 252 fighting pitbulls in cages but the Cavite veterinary office on Tuesday decided on “mercy killing” (euthanasia) 25 dogs that were already very ill and badly injured from the fights.

Their carcasses would be buried in an animal cemetery in Capas, Tarlac, while the remaining 227 pitbulls were turned over to the custody of the Animal Kingdom Foundation for rehabilitation.

Supt. Romeo Baleros, chief of the Cavite police intelligence branch that led the raid, said police acted on a tip of a resident, who complained about the dogs’ barking and howling from the warehouse compound almost every night.

The warehouse, about 100 meters from the closest residential community and surrounded by high concrete walls, was placed under police surveillance until its Filipino caretakers confirmed to authorities that it was housing an animal fight club.

“Two dogs are pitted against each other and the winning dog in the first round fights another dog for a second match,” Baleros said.

Quoting accounts of the caretakers, Baleros said the Koreans rented the warehouse and started bringing in pitbulls by batches sometime in October.

The foreigners hired 17 Filipino caretakers and rented an apartment for themselves in Tagaytay City.

“The caretakers said they did not know where the dogs came from as they were only asked to clean the cages, feed, and inject the animals with some sort of drugs that made the animals fiercer,” Baleros said.

Lawyer Heidi Caguioa, legal officer of the Animal Kingdom Foundation, said the dogs were in bad shape and showed physical injuries when found by authorities.

She said they have not confirmed if the dogs were locally bred, although they received information that the animals were supplied to the Korean operators.

She said dog fights mostly backed by foreigners were rampant in Luzon, but it was their first time to bust an operation which had an international online market.

Caguioa said based on records, patrons placed bets worth a hundred thousand to a million Korean won on the fighting dogs.

“It is very hard to trace the operators because they work surreptitiously. The foreigners are using Filipinos (to operate the fight clubs) and it’s just not nice if we condone this,” she said.

The Koreans were held at the office of the police intelligence unit in Trece Martires City in Cavite. If convicted, the foreigners could face imprisonment of not more than two years.

In May 2006, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported on pitbulls battling liked gladiators in a plywood-boxed arena in a cockpit somewhere in Camarines Sur. Unlike in a cockfight where the two cocks are armed with blades attached to their spurs to maim or kill, the dogs use “jaw power to lock the neck or throat of their opponents, grab the testicles or break their legs,” according to the report. (source: “Pit bulls bred for fighting in Camarines Sur by Juan Escandor Jr., May 11, 2006).