Animal blood sports have been around for ages. Cockfights have been held for centuries, and underground dog fighting rings continue to operate throughout the country and the world in spite of widespread efforts to make these cruel events a relic of the past. However, particularly in the last decade, a relatively new blood sport has gained prominence throughout the American South: hog-dog rodeos.

In these cruel competitions, dogs are set upon a captured wild pig in a small pen from which there is no escape. The feral hog's tusks have been amputated, usually with bolt cutters, so he cannot defend himself. One after another, the dogs attack to see which one can pin down their prey the fastest. The dogs are trained to viciously assault the pig with their powerful jaws, sinking their teeth into the pigs' flesh as a crowd of spectators cheer and root for the dogs they've placed bets on. The pig may be attacked by as many as 10 dogs as each one is given their turn, but in the end, the pig always loses the contest.

South Carolina State Senator Larry Grooms wants to outlaw hog-dog rodeos throughout the state. In Senator Grooms' view, "The whole purpose of a hog-dog rodeo is to mutilate and inflict pain and suffering on an animal." He is sponsoring a bill to ban the barbaric practice that is backed by South Carolina's Attorney General, Henry McMaster. "It's brutal, it's savage, it's cruel to animals, and it has a bad effect, a harmful effect on the people - especially young people," the Attorney General says. "It lowers their resistance; it makes violence more acceptable." Mississippi and Alabama recently passed laws to ban this brutal bloodsport. State legislators in Georgia and Tennessee are also considering bills to ban hog-dog rodeos.

People who hold "hog dogging" events claim that they are "field trials" to train their dogs to hunt pigs in the wild. This is the same defense used by enthusiasts of open field coursing, a blood sport in which dogs are scored according to the speed and agility with which they chase down and maul wild jackrabbits to death. This activity is already illegal in most states, and California legislators may soon ban it. Bills to outlaw animal blood sports, along with several recent high-profile dog fighting busts in the South, indicate that our leaders are getting the message that the public is becoming increasingly intolerant of such cruel and petty amusements as physically pitting animals against one another in deadly competition. Please help show them that the public is fully behind their compassionate efforts.