Canines suffer as laws on dog fights lag

SANTIAGO, Chile – The life of a dog is apparently worth nothing in the clandestine fights that have returned to the outskirts of the Chilean capital. The canines are put into the ring to kill or be killed – all for the benefit of the mafias that run the illegal betting operations.

The organized groups behind the gambling on these cruel competitions have been on the rise for the past two years. The pitbuleros (the fight locations, named for pit bulls) are moved from place to place to avoid detection by the authorities.

The owners of the dogs, the gamblers and even the mere spectators form a veritable circle of silence around the dog fighting mafias in Chile.

The information the police have is that the first fights set up for bets began in 2000, organized by hip hop performers and fans in southern Santiago. It was seen as imitating what was happening in this subculture in Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico and Spain.

Vacant lots, hillsides, abandoned fairgrounds or warehouses are the preferred locations for the clashes of canines, many of which end up dead or gravely injured, as portrayed in the film Amores Perros, by Mexican director Alejandro González Iñartu.

Julio Ibarra, municipal council member of the Pedro Aguirre Cerda district, denounced the violent fights and, along with Sebastián Piñera, president of the right-wing National Renovation Party, filed a complaint citing crimes of cruelty to animals, illicit association and illegal betting.

The investigative division of the carabineros (militarized police), known by its Spanish acronym SIP, has begun to focus on dog fights, recording the license numbers of the vehicles parked outside the fight locations, tracking attendance and other aspects.

But investigators say they run into problems because there are no clear rules about what is legally permitted.

Organizing dog fights in Chile, for as bloody and cruel as they are to the dogs involved, is only a misdemeanor, not a criminal violation.

The statements that the SIP has taken from various dog owners indicate that the fights can take place just about anywhere, out-of-doors or even in the homes of the people following the circuit.

According to police reports, there are residences that have special training machines for the fighting dogs. But the legal situation is straightforward: the authorities cannot seize or embargo the equipment because there are no laws that penalize these practices.

Councilman Ibarra says he sent an e-mail to the Internet site used for organizing dog fights and, without much trouble, immediately began receiving information about them.

One of the dog fight organizers, Dayam Mármol Monteagudo, 25 and known by the nickname "El Cubano," was brought before the courts on Feb. 5, not for the clandestine fights, but for his alleged participation in a Santiago robbery last year.

Article 291a of the Chilean Criminal Procedural Code, in its specification of crimes related to animal health, states that "persons committing acts of mistreatment or cruelty to animals will be punished with prison to the lowest degree and a fine of one to 10 minimum monthly incomes, or only with the latter."

But the legislation does not clearly categorize the crime and, as such, judges are not likely to authorize seizure of property related to dog fighting.

"Therefore, it turns into dead letter," lawmaker Ezequiel Silva, of the co-governing Christian Democrats, told IPS.

Silva, with the help of the Chilean Veterinary Medical Association, in 1995 drafted a bill for an animal protection law. That initiative "has suffered serious setbacks and was curtailed in several areas, but it allowed us to reach a text that in some way specifically covers certain crimes and, among those, animal fights," he said.

With the bill already approved by the Chamber of Deputies and being studied in the Senate, Silva presented another initiative in the lower house as a means to reintroduce the articles that were excluded in the first, such as increased penalties for mistreatment of animals.

The president of the Veterinary Medical Association, Luis Godoy, insists that dog fights are a crime clearly penalized in Chile, because it constitutes cruelty to animals.

In this crime there is an "arrangement among individuals to meet at a certain place at a certain time in order to abuse an animal, to make it suffer and to derive pleasure from its suffering," he said in a conversation with IPS.

The Association wants to see a definitive law approved in Chile for animal protection, he said. There must be legislation also to educate people, because mistreatment occurs when a person does not understand his or her relationship with animals and the responsibility involved.

"The issue of mistreatment is not just about dogs, cats and horses. A researcher conducts scientific studies using animals, and with no legislation to regulate it, there is room for mistreatment. The same situation is true when a trucker transports animals to auction or to the slaughterhouse," he said.

Godoy stressed the need for legislation that promotes animal welfare, especially now, with the trade agreements Chile has signed with the European Union.

"The products of animal origin that they consume, whether it is meat, dairy or eggs, have to be produced under minimum standards for animal welfare, as most developed countries demand," he said.

Councilman Ibarra criticizes the Penal Code for being "hardly explicit" when it comes to defining animal mistreatment, because in order to be penalized it must be proven to the extent that "the police have to catch the perpetrator of this crime red-handed," he told IPS.

But he says the legislative bill in the Senate "is much worse than the existing law, because now it is considered a minor crime under the Penal Code, with sentences of 581 days in prison and fines, and it could be treated as a misdemeanour and penalized by the local police, not in the criminal system." – Inter Press Service