Cockfighting and dogfighting are illegal in most countries but persist globally. Their welfare impacts involve severe injuries and death, and they are often linked to other criminal activity.
Animals used in fighting suffer severe, intentionally inflicted welfare harms. Dogfighting injuries include deep lacerations, broken bones, and infection from wounds — injuries that typically receive no veterinary treatment. Fighting dogs kept in isolation on chains suffer severe psychological harm from social deprivation. Cocks fitted with metal gaffs sustain wounds that would be rapidly fatal without human intervention to keep them in the fight. Animals that fail to fight or lose are often killed cruelly. The training process for fighting animals involves deliberate infliction of pain and fear to produce aggression, representing sustained welfare harm before the fighting events themselves.