animal rights

The first thing that hits me is the smell. It's blood, unmistakably, despite the accompanying stench of disinfectant. It clings to the back of my throat and nose for a long time after, as if I'd spent the day sucking on an ancient penny.

There is also a tang of excrement and something else I can't place. Maybe the testosterone that has run so high in this room has seeped into the pocked walls as a permanent reminder of what has gone on here. When we leave, I spit and spit, hands on knees, and do that thing footballers and boxers do of pressing on one nostril and expelling the offending snot. No one seems to object to my unladylike behaviour. They do the same, but in a more practised manner.

"You should smell it fresh," Jake says sympathetically, kneeling slightly to be nearer my bent-double ear level. He hands me some gum. He then turns to his friends. "Wanna get some chicken?" he asks. They all agree and I want to laugh crazily at what seems, in the context, a vulgar suggestion.
You might say my being here today is the result of tumbling down a pretty nasty rabbit hole. I was curious about one thing and found quite another. I wanted to take a closer look at the ownership of unsafe dogs by young men. I expected to write an article on swagger and masculinity protected by furry, four-legged bouncers. I found something much darker where dog ownership was concerned, which is why I ended up outside a grim warehouse in east London expelling bodily fluids in front of strange young men. The only thing that would make this experience more grim would be to witness one of the dog fights held in the warehouse – which is illegal under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
Another piece of legislation, The Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, explicitly prohibits the breeding of dogs for fighting or profit and particularly bans the ownership of four types – the pit bull terrier, Japanese tosa, dogo Argentino and the fila Brasileiro – without specific court exemption. It was passed in response to a spate of injuries and deaths caused by dogs, but there have, nevertheless, been 16 fatalities due to dog attacks since 2005 and the law is currently being updated.