DOGS USED AS DEADLY WEAPONS; EXCLUSIVE BRUM A HOTSPOT FOR CRUEL PITBULL FIGHTING.

Byline: BY JEANETTE OLDHAM

RUTHLESS Asian gangs are behind rocketing new cases of dog fighting - with pitbulls being used as weapons instead of guns or knives.

The vile bloodsport was outlawed 172 years ago but a new radio investigation has revealed it is enjoying a sickening revival across the country - with Birmingham among the worst hotspots.

The report, Mad Dogs and Asian Men, is aired on BBC Asian Network tomorrow night and looks at how the sinister phenomenon has taken hold in the Asian community.

Last year, Birmingham was the scene of one of the bloodiest and most barbaric dog fights ever discovered in the UK.

Police raided a kitchen showroom to find two pitbull terriers on the verge of death after spending around two hours relentlessly ripping into each other. One dog died shortly afterwards while the other had to be put down.

Chief Inspector Ian Briggs, of the RSPCA's special operations unit, said: "Over the last three or four years we've noticed a marked increase in the number of young Asian men, particularly young Asian Pakistani men, obtaining these dogs with the sole emphasis on training them to fight.

"Over the past three years of all the dog fighting cases I have dealt with, about 98 per cent have been of Asian males, particularly of Pakistani origin."

The programme features shocking interviews with Asian gang members and highlights a disturbing trend - dogs being used as protection or as weapons.

"If your dog looks mean, then you look mean," one anonymous young Asian man tells the programme.

"It tells a lot about your personality - you can walk around without getting trouble, worrying that you're gonna get robbed."

Gangs also pit their animals against those of rivals to earn bragging rights and territorial supremacy.

National Health Service figures show 3,800 people were treated in hospital for dog bites in 2007 - up 43 per cent on the previous four years.

Asian youths are not exclusively to blame. But the radio probe found there had been a significant increase in their involvement.

Organised gangs train dogs in a special cage for weeks before the fight itself, says Chief Insp Briggs, and the dogs are made super-fit on treadmills and given steroids.

"The dog is then pitted against an opponent - usually for a wager or just to say their dog is the best dog in the area."

A young Asian victim, Harvinder Hayer, tells the radio programme how he came face-to-face with gunmen and their dangerous dogs in a Birmingham park.

He said: "My brother and I were walking through the park and the next thing I know he released the dog and said 'kill'.

"One of the dogs lock-jawed me on my leg, then another tried to bite my face and at the same time I was getting kicked in the face and hit with the shotgun, the air rifle.

"They started saying for the dog to go for my neck. But luckily the dog didn't go for my neck. Had it gone for my neck I wouldn't be here today."

Mad Dogs and Asian Men is broadcast on the Asian Network tomorrow at 6.30pm. Anyone with information about dog fighting can contact the RSPCA on 0300 1234 999.

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CAPTION(S):

BARBARIC: Dogs fight for survival in this secret video, and left, one of the dogs which died after the kitchen showroom battle.; CONVICTED: Zahoor Hussain and Waqqas Mughal were involved in the kitchen showroom fight, one of the bloodiest in the UK.