The Wonderful Sport of Rat Baiting,In Victorian Britain rat baiting was a ghoulish yet very popular

The Wonderful Sport of Rat Baiting,In Victorian Britain rat baiting was a ghoulish yet very popular animal bloodsport.  Essentially a pit would be filled with rats, and a dog would be unleashed into the pit to kill them.  Spectators would bet on how many rats the dog could kill in a certain amount of time, and there were often different leagues and styles depending on the breed of the dog used.  The moost common breeds were small terriers, as they were bred to hunt and kill small animals and were often used for pest control. Awards were granted for either the quickest time or the most rats killed.  Rats were supplied by ratcatchers and in crowded cities such as London, Liverpool, or Glasgow there was never a shortage of rats on hand.  In London alone there were 70 rat pits where fights were held daily.The record holder for the most rats killed was a bull terrier named “Jacko” who over a ten week period in 1862 killed one thousand rats in less than 100 minutes.  His career total amounts to around 1,400 rats.  For the dogs, rat baiting was not so easy, as when cornered the rats would often claw and bite.  One dog by the name of “Billy” had only two teeth and one eye by the time of his retirement in 1823. By the later 1800’s rat baiting died out as animal cruelty laws were passed outlawing the sport.  Queen Victoria herself was an avid dog lover who abhorred rat baiting and spoke out against its practice.  Many former rat breeds become showdogs instead, and ushered in the new sport of dog exhibition.  The last rat fight was Leicester in 1912. -- source link

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