Experts said the internet is fuelling an underground industry as fights are filmed and shared with growing global audiences

Organised gangs are behind a sharp rise in blood sports across Scotland and dog fighting and badger baiting now account for half of all special investigations by animal welfare charities.

Experts said the internet is fuelling an underground industry as fights are filmed and shared with growing global audiences who bet on the outcomes.

Members of criminal “fraternities” spend months arranging dog fights in quiet places such as abandoned farmhouses. Underworld figures from Ireland and England are understood to travel north of the border to attend.

The Scottish SPCA said its special investigations unit (SIU) had looked into about 720 incidents concerning animal wellbeing this year, more than double the number it examined in 2017 and up by 20 per cent on last year.

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