Stop import of fighting dogs in the USA ! While dog lovers all over America are joining efforts to stop dog fighting rings and breeding of fighting dogs, another danger comes to the dog world - import of fighting dogs to the USA. Dog fighting is the fastest growing industry in Central Asia. It involves crowds of gamblers and hundreds thousands of dollars in new independent states of Central Asia and Caucasus – Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgizstan, Azerbaidjan, and others. Dog fighting there is legal; it is supported by governments and attended by government officials. For thousands years this regions were home for livestock guardian dogs – Central Asian and Caucasian Ovtcharkas. But with the rise of dog fighting in 1990’s all Central Asian kennels begin producing and selling Central Asians and Caucasians for fights. While in Russia authorities together with breeders and Russian Kynological Federation (RKF) succeeded in banning dog fights and preserving best working qualities of these breeds (dog fighting is illegal in Russian cities), in Central Asia today one hardly can find the dog without fighting background. And now these fighting and killing machines - more than 30 inches high, weighting up to 200 pounds, selected for generations for aggressiveness, - find their way to the USA. In May 2004 CASSA (Central Asian Shepherd Society of America) imported to the USA from Uzbekistan dogs, bred in “Royal Gift of Asia” Kennel. This kennel is known for breeding high quality fighting dogs. On “Royal Gift of Asia” Website owners of this kennel promote dog fights as “testing” of dogs. This is the page, showing dogs fighting (bottom of the page): http://cao.by.ru/Follow%20Pages/pitomnik.htm . These are photos of fighting dogs: http://cao.by.ru/Photos/fight.jpg , http://cao.by.ru/Photos/fight_4.jpg etc.. Light-colored dog on the photos is Nik Han, father of the dogs, imported to USA by CASSA. Here is another example of CASSA import of Uzbekistan, used by CASSA officials to promote their breeding: http://www.centralasianshepherd.com/photopost/data/1logo11.jpg . By buying these dogs not only CASSA endorsed the dog fighting practices in Uzbek Kennels and support them with American dollars – CASSA is going to spread this fighting bloodlines in the USA. These dogs from Nik Han fighting line are promoted in breeding plans of CASSA. One of CASSA officials, Victoria Evans, who is responsible for selecting this fighting dogs and importing them to the USA, wrote recently: “We have some new bloodlines to incorporate into our CASSA Breeding program that should really keep us moving forward”. Some years ago in New York Vasilii Platunov from Brooklyn (NY) already imported fighting dogs from Central Asia and Caucasus. Fortunately, his breeding practices were stopped in the very beginning, but his Central Asian and Caucasian dogs are known to participate in dog fights in Brooklyn, and some were found dead. Platunov fled from Brooklyn, but is often mentioned by CASSA officials as one of the founders of their dogs bloodlines. CASSA as breed club may succeed where Platunov was stopped. This success will supply dog fighting rings with new fighting dogs, and will affect reputation of all livestock guardian breeds in the USA. Popularity of beautiful ancient Central Asian and Caucasian dogs is growing in America, but this popularity has dark side. We want all dog lovers to join efforts to stop CASSA from importing dogs from fighting bloodlines to the USA and breeding these dangerous dogs. Please sign this petition and address your protests and opinions to CASSA officials, local authorities and dog organization.