EVEN though we are said to be a nation of dog lovers, you don’t have to be canine-friendly to find the whole idea of dog fighting abhorrent.

Breeding animals to attack and tear each other apart is barbaric and revolting and a practice which shouldn’t have survived past the Middle Ages.

But sadly it has.

Some people seem to take a perverted pleasure in watching animals suffer and others use the appalling spectacle to make money from the sort of punters who would in the past have queued up to see public floggings or hangings.

However, it is good to see the police and RSPCA uniting in East Lancashire to successfully bring the first prosecution for the offences of causing dogs to fight and keeping a fight venue, under the 2006 Animal Welfare Act.

Hopefully their initiative in taking this offender to court, where he was jailed for six months, will send out a strong message to others that dog fighting is totally unacceptable in the 21st century.

And it will also perhaps encourage law-abiding residents who suspect that property might be in use for these awful meetings to contact the authorities so that fight organisers can be brought to justice.