Hog-dog rodeos are bloody events in which one or two frenzied dogs, usually pit bulls, are turned loose in pens to attack wild pigs as onlookers cheer and judges rate dogs by how quickly they take down their prey. To prevent injury to the dogs, the hogs' tusks are often first broken off with a steel pipe and hammer or with bolt-cutters, rendering these animals completely defenseless.
Hogs often sustain serious injuries during these events, including but not limited to ripped ears and haunches, mangled noses, ruptured scrotums, and other gaping wounds. Sometimes their ears are torn right off. Considered by some to be "good, wholesome fun," children are also often allowed to gang up on the terrified pigs and chase them around the arena.
Hog-dog rodeos are common in parts of the South and Midwest. They are generally held in rural locations and often local authorities are alarmingly permissive of these sadistic events. Five states have laws on the books that explicitly make hog-dog rodeos illegal: Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
Unfortunately, these laws are often loosely interpreted by local authorities and rarely enforced. In Clarke County, Alabama, for example, it was not until a local news team conducted an undercover investigation and obtained video documentation of a local hog-dog rodeo that authorities were finally compelled to arrest the organizer on cruelty-to-animals charges and shut down the event.