How to mix IT led to an investigation of BBC to UNSCAK ONE EUROGE in the largest dog fighters in Europe

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Patrick Fee & Guy GrandjeanBBC Spotlight

The BBC Black Dog, wearing a red collar, is in a cage looking directly at the camera with eyes wide open. There is a white scar that glowed through his black coat under his left eye and in the middle of his forehead. Bbc

Ruby, a battle dog, was left with visible scars on her face

The fight against dogs is as secretive as barbaric.

The people behind the illegal blood sport carefully conceal their identity, fearing arrest and persecution.

However, a Dog Fighter IT mix has led to an undercover BBC investigation to reveal some of the participants in one of the largest dog fighting networks in Europe.

The BBC follows the fight against the kennels to the unlikely places in the UK – from a busy residential property to the grounds of a magnificent home.

Usually, a wrong click from a member of the most secret online dog fight forum has exposed the brutal reality to today’s dog struggles.

The expiration revealed that graphic matches reports to document a battle after a fight, an injured animal after an injured animal.

Huge intelligence is quickly gathered by charity organizations for animal welfare, league against brutal sports (LACS) and Olter Society to prevent cruelty to animals (USPCA).

It was the first view of a highly secret international union for dog fighting – the one that the BBC has spent the last six months investigating and exposed.

“In fact, I can’t put it into words, it was just golden,” said Rut Middleton, a former police officer who turned the LacS intelligence leader.

Black dog and sandy dog ​​are locked together in battle. In the background is a low wooden wall, along with a person's feet. Dogs fight a black mat.

Dogs are forced to fight in specially prepared pits

The law in the United Kingdom not only prohibits the fight, but also possesses combat dogs, trains them to fight, to trade with animals, and even to shoot battles for no good reason.

“There was a whole range of different dog fighters, everyone cooperated, talking, we shared videos. This gave us a real idea of ​​the global perspective of dog fighting.”

Middleton described the network as “one of the largest in Europe”.

Following a trace of evidence hidden in photos, publications and videos online, the BBC was able to display an organized network of illegal dog fighters – the one that extends from the United Kingdom, across Europe and outside.

A man is looking at the camera, smiling. It has dark hair that enhances the side. The man wears a black polo shirt with an emblem of the chest print. Below is read "League vs. brutal sports"S The background of the image is a blurred room, with a lamp and a fireplace.

RoS Middleton is the leader of league intelligence against cruel sports

“This happens in every city and city in the UK”

The fight against dogs is much more common than humans think, according to an experienced veterinarian David Martin, who was an expert witness in previous cases of dog fighting.

“It continues in probably every major city and city in the UK.

“This is a huge amount of abuse and cruelty at every stage,” said Martin.

The league against brutal sports has received more than 600 dog fighting reports since 2024, with these reports increasing by over 50% in the last two years.

However, it says that the number of dog battles that are fought in the UK is impossible to determine quantitatively – the secret of battles means that much more is being implemented than reported.

There is one too much for campaigns such as RoS.

The BBC investigation has discovered several dogs based in the UK, which are struggling with kennels that hide in unlikely places.

In one case, the owner of a dog, who had recently killed his opponent in the pit, had a kennel nestled in a busy residential property in Arma County, populated by families and their pets.

“They want to keep their dogs out of their sight, they do not want to be identified by authorities as someone who has dogs who are forbidden,” Martin said.

“They will have to be extremely careful if they will bring their dogs to the environment to make sure that their dogs do not encounter other dogs, otherwise there will be bloodshed.”

A composite image shows a dog running on a treadmill in the garden. Behind it is a greater image of the garden, with the arrows pointing to the coincidental characteristics, such as a large stone wall, metal cells and a gray shed.

Photos and videos posted online

Another kennel was found hidden on the grounds of one of the most famous magnificent homes in Northern Ireland, the mansion of Shane’s Castle.

The reasons of the mansion were used by Boniard’s kennels to shelter and train combat dogs.

USPCA and LACS have identified Kennels Boneyard as one of the most significant dog fighters in the UK.

Shane’s castle told BBC News Ni that he was opposed to the fight against dogs and was shocked to hear that the dog fighter was working within her reasons.

It said that if he knew, it would be stopped.

A Facebook man in a black coat and a woolen hat is pressed into a training room with a pit bull dog. He has dark stubbles that becomes gray. The dog is a tanned color and stared at the left of the camera. Behind them is a big banner for fitness. Facebook

The investigation traced about 40 dogs to David Patterson’s kennels

The BBC identifies the man behind Boneyard Kennels as David Patterson, a mixed military arts coach of Antrim County.

We tracked about 40 combat pits to the Boniard Bonik-Rescues, consistent with several of the dogs to train dogs to a garden with walls deep at the Shain Castle Manor.

David Patterson denied to participate in the fight against dogs and said he was not a member of any international dog fighting network.

He said he often takes care of dogs for other people and is interested in human and animal fitness.

Facebook the man stands in a fighting fitness without being included. He has short sandy hair and looks straight at the camera. The man has several tattoos on his left hand. Behind him are the ropes of the boxing gym and the blue wall. Facebook

Craig Kitson told the BBC that he did not actively participate in the fight against dogs

The BBC also saw evidence stating that Craig Kitson, an associate of Patterson, was also a member of the dog fighting network – operating under the pseudonym Spongebob.

The name Spongebob was referred to as a referee in several reports on dog fighting matches and as a dog leader of Boneyard Kennels.

Craig Kitson had previously made titles for a graphic video, which was in holding his deceased dog.

His muzzle glued, d -Kitson bites the dog’s ear, suggesting that it was a punishment for the dog that bitten his child.

Craig Kitson told the BBC that he was not actively involved in the fight against dogs and that he was not the person identified as Spongebob.

He expressed a deep conception of the video in which he bites the dog’s corpse, saying he was not responsible for his death.

Three men are in the photo meeting in a parking lot, next to a large yellow sign for a restaurant. A small black dog on a red lead jumps on the man on the left. A man in the gray bottoms of a tracksuit, the tip of the Navy and a baseball cap is in the middle, also with the dog's hand. The third man is bald and stands with his back to the camera, mostly hidden from a car view.

The BBC Patrick Fee (Center) journalist meets Zoltan Bors (right) in Amsterdam

Posing as a dog fighter, the BBC was able to penetrate online platforms and win the trust of members of the broader European network.

A few months later, a union member was ready to meet in Amsterdam to sell a battle dog to the team.

Zoltan Borbe, known by the nickname NFK Kennels, was shot secretly, boasting about their battle dogs.

“I have a grand champion who may sign here for the seventh game,” he said – without knowing he was talking to a BBC journalist.

Grand Champion is a term used for a dog that won at least five matches.

One looks to the right of the camera in a granular image taken from an undercover camera. It is bald with large black eyebrows. Behind the man is a yellow sign for a restaurant and a blue parking sign, which indicates that it is in parking.

ZOLTAN BORBE spoke with the BBC Undercover team in Amsterdam

Borbe sent videos to the black pit bull he was selling, a two-year-old named Ruby, to show what was known as his game-to-determination of a dog fighting in the pit.

Later, Zoltan Borsa denied participating in the fight against dogs, telling the BBC that he had made the story to sell dogs.

Rehabilitation of dogs

Ruby, a medium -sized black dog, is placed on a table in a clinically looking room. A woman in a dark T -shirt holds the head of the dogs watching. She has blond hair. Another woman dressed in a white tunic holds a thermometer behind the dog and talks to the woman in the dark T -shirt.

Ruby was taken to a specialist center in Amsterdam for care and evaluation

The secret to the fight against dogs means that few animals are saved – those who often risk being euthanized. In the UK, pit bulls are a banned breed.

Ruby is placed in a center in the Netherlands, which works to rehabilitate high -risk dogs through training programs.

“It’s just a lot of observation,” said Hela Van Day Beemt, a leading therapist of the center.

“To be fair to the dog, you should always go with an open heart and just give the dog any room it needs and you will contact the dog.

“They always have a chance, but there are many factors to consider in this.

“If it is really heavily built into character, then we need to calculate the risk.”

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