Greater London is dog fighting hotspot of the UK
New figures, released by the RSPCA, reveal the top hotspots across England for reports relating to dog fighting, with Greater London having the most reports recorded
Latest statistics show that the RSPCA received 1,433 reports related to illegal dog fighting over the last three years.
The figures are being released as part of a fundraising campaign - which coincides with the charity’s busiest time as heartbreaking cruelty reports peak over summer.
While some calls about the barbaric bloodsport were related to unspecified or unknown locations, the charity has revealed the top spots for fighting complaints:
- Greater London (25 reports in 2025);
- Lancashire (15 reports);
- West Yorkshire (15 reports);
- Essex (14 reports);
- Somerset (14 reports);
- Greater Manchester (13 reports);
- West Midlands (12 reports);
- Nottinghamshire (10 reports).
Will Mitchell is Chief Inspector at the RSPCA
"It's an awful activity. It causes horrendous suffering and it's extremely sad to think that the UK still has an appetite for it. As I said, I would urge people to report any concerns they have around the activity."
He adds it's a sport that some individuals take incredibly seriously, even with new laws stating someone can be imprisoned for up to 5 years for the activity
"Often people don't realize it still goes on. I can talk in detail about the top level dog fighters who invest huge amounts of time and money and people will look at me in bewilderment thinking, really does this actually happen?
Individuals will invest a huge amount of time, effort and money to produce champion dogs. Very much like human prize fighters, though, it's a sport that they are obsessed with and it's their life. So that runs very deep with certain individuals."
Jane's story
A lot of the time dogs who have fighting backgrounds can't be rehomed, however Will told us about one instance where a dog was able to be rescued
"Jane's story is a standout because traditionally the dogs that are fought in this organised element are often of a banned breed, so American Pitbull type, which is a banned breed.
So if they are rescued, they're not possible to rehome. And equally, if they have been trained to fight, there's obviously considerable behavioural concern around that.
So Jane would stand out because she wasn't a section 1 dog, so it wasn't prohibited and with the significant behavioural input and assessment, it was a success story for her to be rehomed."